AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: THE ALASKA PIPELINE (TV)

Summary

One in this documentary series. This film examines the difficult construction of the 800 miles of steel pipe built through the Alaskan wilderness for the delivery of oil from the Arctic Ocean to the lower forty-eight states. The program begins on the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, when demonstrators marched, calling for an end to pollution. Meanwhile, the oil companies were trying to figure out how to transport the recently discovered ten billion barrels of oil out of northern Alaska without the use of cars or ocean tankers. Eventually, the oil companies settled on a giant, private pipe through the heart of Alaska, from the northern point of Prudhoe Bay to Valdez on the southern coast. Joe Pratt, historian, details the “hubris” needed for the oil companies to think they could execute this audacious task. Meanwhile, Stewart Brandborg, director of the Wilderness Society, began leading a fight against federal approval of the pipeline. Also, the native Alaskans of Stevens Village, located in the path of the proposed pipeline, were alarmed upon hearing the news. Environmentalists offered legal challenge after legal challenge trying to keep pipeline construction in limbo. Howard Weaver, former Anchorage Daily News reporter, details how Alaskans were tired of outsiders meddling in local business. Art Lachenbruch, U.S. Geological Survey, details how the Interior Department’s geologists had serious issues with the feasibility of the pipeline’s construction. Fed up with legal challenges from environmentalists, pipeline advocates such as Senator Ted Stevens — shown in a period clip — tried to get the pipeline quickly passed. When the Senate found itself deadlocked at forty-nine votes apiece, Vice President Spiro Agnew cast the deciding vote in favor of construction. When the Yom Kippur War caused a shortage of Arab oil in the U.S., Americans had no recourse but to go ahead with the pipeline. In November 1973, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act easily passed in the House, putting an end to legal challenges. Bill Howitt, engineer, details how the pipeline needed to be constructed and completed within three years. The first job was to build a supply road from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay, as well as lodging for the construction workers. Dave Smallwood, pipeline trucker, details the “insanity” of transporting pipeline at the time. By March 1975, it was time to begin laying pipe, with the route having been divided into five segments, to be built simultaneously. Al Fleming, a pipeline teamster, details the huge paychecks workers received compared to their counterparts on other projects around the country. As in a gold rush, people eager to work on the pipeline infiltrated Fairbanks, turning it into a boomtown. Diane Benson, a truck driver, details being one of thousands of women to work on the pipeline, thanks to new affirmative action requirements. Meanwhile, others were struggling to get work on the pipeline due to stringent requirements accommodating specialty workers and natives of Alaska. Fleming details how a bribe “backdoored” him through the union, landing him a highly-sought-after job in the teamsters’ warehouse. Hired for the all-important pipe welding job was the tight-knit welders’ union 798 out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clips show Frank Moolin Jr., the pipeline’s senior project manager, detailing the difficulties in building the pipe during the harsh, if not impossible, winter. This led to a claustrophobic camp life, filled with repetitive routines, which led to mass consumption of alcohol and drugs. Fleming details how theft was rampant around the pipeline, leading to talk of organized crime within his teamsters union. Weaver discusses how, despite all these problems, the pipeline was progressing well. Then, a new crisis hit when the media reported that faulty welds had been made along the pipeline, which led to more scandal when the quality control x-raying of the pipeline was found to have been faked. Afterward, two of the most difficult pipeline sections were all that remained, most notably, the roller coaster terrain and the near-vertical 2,800-foot south face of Thompson Pass. Eventually, the engineers devised a tower-and-cable process for moving the pipes into place before the welders decided it was too difficult to continue. Wanting to regain the esteem they had lost earlier, the 798 union decided they would attempt the “granddaddy” job, ultimately finishing it. Up north, however, there was one more segment of pipe to finish at Atigun Pass, the highest point on the line. Working around the clock, the work was completed in December 1976, twenty months after the work had begun. By late spring of 1977, the pump stations were ready to move oil, and in June the valves at Prudhoe Bay finally released the crude oil south. The final cost was eight billion dollars, almost ten times the original estimate. Two years later, Moolin died at age 48, after having been honored by his peers for pulling off the most complex and demanding construction job in history. This program includes two show-sponsored commercials.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Details

• NETWORK: PBS
• DATE: April 24, 2006 Monday 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:54:57
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:91464
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: ; Alaska – History
• SERIES RUN: PBS – TV series, 1988-
• COMMERCIALS:
  • TV – Commercials – Liberty Mutual insurance.
  • TV – Commercials – Scott’s lawn products

CREDITS

• Mark Samels … Executive Producer
• Susan Mottau … Coordinating Producer
• Mark Davis … Producer, Director, Writer
• Anna Saraceno … Associate Producer
• Sharon Grimberg … Production (Misc.), Series Producer
• Jackie Mow … Production (Misc.), Field Producer
• Tom Phillips … Music by
• Mark Adler … Theme Music by
• Joe Morton … Narrator
• Spiro Agnew
• Diane Benson
• Stewart Brandborg
• Al Fleming
• Bill Howitt
• Art Lachenbruch
• Frank Moolin
• Joe Pratt
• Dave Smallwood
• Ted Stevens
• Howard Weaver

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