A giant drilling rig is completely blocking one of the main roads near Prudhoe Bay. BP was moving the rig, called Doyon 16, slowly between the Milne Point Field and Prudhoe Bay on Sept. 20 when one of its enormous wheels broke through the road surface. Crews have been working to free the rig. But in the meantime, the normal flow of traffic on the road has come to a halt. BP spokesman Steve Reinhart says this is not a common occurrence:
Getting the rig unstuck also happens very slowly. Reinhart says crews will probably have it moving again by the end of the week.
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Annie Feidt is the Managing Editor for Alaska's Energy Desk, a collaboration between Alaska Public Media in Anchorage, KTOO Public Media in Juneau and KUCB in Unalaska. Her reporting has taken her searching for polar bears on the Chukchi Sea ice, out to remote checkpoints on the Iditarod Trail, and up on the Eklutna Glacier with scientists studying its retreat. Her stories have been heard nationally on NPR and Marketplace.
Annie’s career in radio journalism began in 1998 at Minnesota Public Radio, where she produced the regional edition of All Things Considered. She moved to Anchorage in 2004 with her husband, intending to stay in the 49th state just a few years. She has no plans to leave anytime soon.
afeidt (at) alaskapublic (dot) org | 907.550.8443 | About Annie
