Raging Flood Waters Driven by Climate Change Threaten the Trans-Alaska Pipeline

Raging Flood Waters Driven by Climate Change Threaten the Trans-Alaska Pipeline 

by David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News (October 12, 2021) – “One of the federal regulations that applies to Alaskan and all pipelines in the United States is a requirement that they must have their rights of way inspected at least 26 times a year, at intervals not exceeding three weeks. In most circumstances, that should give an operator enough time to detect a pipeline threat, said Rebecca Craven, program director for the Pipeline Safety Trust, a non-profit watchdog organization. ‘But in a situation like TAPS, where it runs so close to rivers that can change very quickly, depending on snowmelt, precipitation and temperature, it may be that a whole lot of change could occur in three weeks,’ she said.”