There's an oil rush in Valdez

We are in Valdez,

more oil goes through here than anywhere else in the United States,

they have paid the price of that

when the Exxon Valdez spilled all that oil in their home,

they didn't get an aquarium, like Seward did,

or a fishing hole, like Homer did,

from the Exxon monies,

but they do have the most expensive gas of anywhere we have been in Alaska The end of the line for the pipeline, 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay to here, Valdez, the last miles are under ground then they come out here at this terminal that was built on solid rock, thinking that would protect the terminal, from an earthquake

When they discovered all that oil

the government seriously considered a supertanker submarine,

the oil was only a few miles from the sea,

and a supertanker airplane,

Boeing worked up plans,

Ayeska said nah, we'll do a pipeline

They do make jet fuel for the Air Force base here, but most of the oil goes on an oil tanker and is shipped to west coast ports

They built three docks, but only one is being used right now, and all the oil storage tanks are not at capacity either

We saw at least one of these oil tankers a day coming out of here, one oil tanker can carry 80 million dollars worth of oil

You can't get anywhere close to here, and there are no tours through the pipeline terminal

Looks a bit sinister, doesn't it?

The containers are pulled and tied down by two tugs always, and a port person is piloting it out of Valdez's waters

Our tour person told us that Alyeska now. had the most

extensive oil spill recovery equipment of anywhere around

I'm not an oil spill expert

but I would think that it would be more extensive than this