Must have been about 20 years ago, while my sister & BIL were still living at North Pole, AK..when they sent me a picture of an oil spill caused by a stupid, drunk, "hunter", who shot a hole in the line. Personally, I hope he got what was rightfully coming to him.
In any case, at regular points along the line, there are sensors that keep track of pressure..any sense of lower pressure, signifying a leak..and it shuts down the nearest gates on either side, limiting the spill.
My BIL drove truck on the ice road from it's from the very start of the pipeline, while my brother was mechanic on all the caterpillar equipment on the line.
The point being..even though there was quite a bit of crude spilled by the hole in the pipe, it was virtually all cleaned up..and after the soil was hauled to a reclaimation field, by a couple years..no more polluted soil.
http://www.albionmonitor.com/0109a/alaskapipelinespill.html The article says the dimwit shot the pipe with a .338. I think that would be a tough chore even for that rifle.
While my brother was working on the pipeline, he took a piece of the scrap, and acetylene cut out a map of Alaska..
and welded a bead, showing the pipeline.
That scrap piece of pipe looks about 1" thick to me, although admittedly, I have not looked closely, and since he cut the pipe at a severe angle to show the shore angles..it is rather tough guessing.
