Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 24.4
Modern service facilities in the Alaska oilfield at
Prudhoe Bay minimize ground disturbance as much as
possible by building on stilts to avoid melting the permafrost.
Photo: Ken Atkinson.
about 1 m high, is maintained beneath the underside of the buildings. As conventional
piped systems of water supply and sewage disposal are not practical, and Utilidor systems
are too costly, smaller settlements usually have these utilities serviced by truck.
IMPACT OF OIL AND GAS FIELDS
Political crises in the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s persuaded many international
oil companies to look for oil reserves in Arctic regions. Significant supplies of oil and
natural gas have been located in the Arctic regions of Alaska, Canada and Russia. Much
development has already taken place, with the certainty that the impact of hydrocarbon
extraction will be far greater in the future. The operation and drilling of wells for oil and
natural gas carries great environmental risks. These are compounded by the transport of
the hydrocarbons by tankers and pipelines across the tundra or through polar seas to
'southern' markets; there is also the necessity to service the needs of remote polar
communities with fuel and supplies. There have been hundreds of accidental spills of
crude oil, diesel oil, petrol and jet fuel kerosene as oil and gas deposits have been
developed in Alaska, Arctic Canada and Arctic Russia. The spills have gone into marine
