© Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.Crews work on tank top snow removal on Tanks 12 and 14 in the East Tank Farm in Valdez on March 16, 2022.
The company that operates the trans-Alaska pipeline has called in backup crews to contend with
massive amounts of snow piled on top of its oil storage tanks in Valdez, which has damaged infrastructure and vented petroleum vapors to the environment in what state regulators say are violations of the Clean Air Act.
The incident has forced the Valdez Marine Terminal's operator, Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., to take multiple tanks out of service, though it says there have been no impacts to oil shipments so far.
To try to prevent further damage, Alyeska is now sending up dozens of respirator-equipped contractors for the painstaking work of removing the snow.
Those crews are working nearly around the clock, according to Michelle Egan, an Alyeska spokeswoman. The contractors, who are roped to the top of the tanks, cannot use plows or power tools, so they're cutting off blocks of snow with saws and sliding them off the edge.
