2013: With straight pipe installed, PS10 demobilization complete
Alyeska had ramped down Pump Station 10 (PS 10) in 1996, 19 years after it first received crude oil. The site, set 44 miles south of Delta Junction and 214 miles north of Valdez, sits in the shadow of the Alaska Range and along the Delta River. PS 10 was key to moving crude oil up and over Isabel Pass when throughput was at its peak. As throughput declined, so did the need for the station’s pumping capacity and in 1996 technician James Dearmore walked to a simple switch and shut off the mainline pump for good.
In 2013, a team completed straight pipe work at Pump Station 10, effectively disconnecting the last inactive pump station on TAPS. The bulk of the project – a significant milestone for TAPS – was completed with the July 26, 2013 shutdown.
With the installation of the Pump Station 10 straight pipe, all of the inactive pump stations – Pump Stations 2, 6, 8, 10, 11 and 12 – had been disconnected from the mainline pipe, and the dead-leg piping segments associated with these inactive stations were disconnected from TAPS.
Most of the buildings and equipment were removed from the site by 2019, clearing the view way for viewing the Delta River, which is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.
READ MORE 45TH ANNIVERSARY THE EVOLUTION OF TAPS STORIES:
1991: Atigun Pass mainline reroute
2007: Operations Control Center moves from Valdez to Anchorage