1: 1977: Oil starts flowing in the Trans-Alaska Pipeline
Photo: alaskakids
Starting at the largest oil field in North America located near Prudhoe Bay runs an oil pipeline that is over 800 miles long. The pipeline is roughly 48 inches in diameter allowing more than 800,000 barrels of oil to flow through it every day. It’s commonly known as the Trans-Alaska pipeline and it’s also the worlds largest privately-funded construction project at an incredible $8 billion to build. Environmentalists fought tooth and nail to prevent the pipeline from happening because of the impact it would have on the animals and beautiful landscape Alaska has to offer. However, the money to be made by both the state of Alaska and the oil companies was far too much to overlook. It was on this day in 1977 when the switch was flipped into the on position, sending oil on the 800 mile journey to be loaded onto massive tankers.
