As the recent American political deadlock over the debt crisis has demon-i strated, when a strict deadline exists, it takes enormous political will to achieve results in the final hour. In some ways, Alaska faces a similar deadline, which if passed would result in devastating economic effects. Unlike many resource-rich areas of the world that can afford to cushion the effects of oil and gas decline, Alaska's window of opportunity is severely limited, due to its energy infrastructure. The key to Alaska's success has been the Trans Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), an 800-mile pipeline that carries North Slope oil to a terminal at Valdez, from which it is shipped by tanker to the Lower 48. Designed and built to carry oil from Prudhoe Bay, North America's largest oilfield, TAPS is an engineering masterpiece, without which there would be little alternative to carry Alaska's oil production to market.
展开▼
