The discovery in March 1968 of oil on the Arctic slope of Alaska's Prudhoe Bay ignited an ongoing controversy over the handling of the Arctic slope's abundant energy resources. Of all the options considered for transporting the huge quantities found in North America's largest field, the least hazardous and most suitable was deemed a pipeline to the ice-free southern port of Valdez.

Plans for the pipeline began immediately. Labeled the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline System (TAPS) its cost was estimated at $1.5 billion, a pittance compared to the final cost of $7.7 billion. The total development cost for Prudhoe Bay oil was likely over $15 billion, the most expensive project ever undertaken by private industry. Antagonists, aided by the nascent environmental movement, succeeded in temporarily halting the project. Legislation that created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and required environmental impact statements for all federallyrelated projects added new, critically important requirements to TAPS...