Valdez lives up to its snowy reputation

As a few roofs in Anchorage collapsed under the weight of record snowfalls in the 2011-12 winter, Valdez, the location of the marine terminal where oil from the trans-Alaska pipeline is loaded into tankers for shipment south, lived up to its reputation as the snow capital of Alaska.

“More than 450 inches of snow fell in Valdez between October and April, with the majority falling during the month of December 2011,” Alaska’s State Pipeline Coordinator’s Office wrote in its annual report, published in October.

With the rate of snow accumulation quickly outpacing normal snow removal capabilities, the large volumes of snow on infrastructure such as oil storage tanks at the marine terminal became a prime concern for pipeline and terminal operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. and for state agencies, the report says.

Alyeska had to prioritize the snow removal needs and mobilize extra snow removal crews to ensure the safety of personnel and to minimize any oil discharge risk at the terminal, the report says. Staff from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and environmental program specialists in the State Pipeline Coordinator’s Office monitored snow accumulation and removal daily, consulting with each other and Alyeska to make certain of the safe, continued operation of the terminal, the report says.

—Alan Bailey