The AHA! Lecture: Resident Jeff Traenkle: Trip Down the Alyeska Pipeline will be delivered at 11:00 am in the Performance Hall and streaming. The trip down the pipeline was to expose three lawyers and two consultants (I was one) engaged by Alyeska to the size, scope and wonder of the pipeline. It was taken in early October 1990 just as the weather was closing down work for the year. The “rate case” before a FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) administrative law judge was likely to be held in Washington in the early spring of 1991. It looked as though it was going to be acrimonious. There had been violent objections raised by a faction of Alaskans, politicians, and environmentalists to the issuance of permits. The 18th largest oil field in the world was there. The oil companies had concluded that a pipeline was the only feasible way to get the oil to market. They had begun to understand the enormity of the task, and enlisted various academics to study the issues. However, they weren’t going to spend bushels of money until they were given the green light to proceed. It wasn’t until the OPEC embargo forced Americans to sit in seemingly endless lines did the government give permission.
