Steve Heimel, APRN – Anchorage
A long delayed state report on aging North Slope oilfields says there have been hundreds of oil leaks and spills from tanks, valves and pipelines that have had little regulation. The big pipelines are monitored, but in 1996 transit lines – or flow lines as they are called in the report – that move oil and water around, began breaking down due to corrosion.
It says the older the pipes are the more likely the leaks are to be and it says the number of spills has remained constant but the amount spilled has grown. Department of Environmental Conservation spill response director Larry Dietrick says they will be formulating some recommendations for more closely monitoring the flow lines.
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