48 inch pipe, 789 miles long, will cross 3 mountain ranges & 70 rivers or streams, 12 pumping stations, 21 construction camps, 3 years in construction. An estimated 10 billion barrels of crude oil. With central computer control at Valdez the pipeline is designed for a maximum capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil a day. Oil was first discovered on Alaska's North Slope at Prudhoe Bay in March 1968. Studies on a proposed pipeline started as early as August of the same year. In September 1969 the State of Alaska held a Lease Sale of Prudhoe Bay land, a record 900 million dollars was paid to the State by those winning these leases. There has been an unheralded number of engineering, ecological and permafrost studies along the pipeline route to assure safety of Alaska's wild life and ecology. Temperatures along the pipeline route vary from as much as 100 degrees F. in summer to more than 75 degrees F. below zero in winter. The pipeline was three years in construction and cost over 8 billion dollars - the largest and most costly project ever undertaken by private industry
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