美国国家公共电台 NPR Alaska's 40 Years Of Oil Riches Almost Never Was

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Alaska's Prudhoe Bay Oil Field started production 40 years ago this month. Twelve billion barrels of oil later, it's completely reshaped Alaska. Finding Prudhoe Bay led to a major economic boom and also to the Exxon Valdez oil spill. But the discovery of the giant oil field that started it all almost didn't happen. Elizabeth Harball from Alaska's Energy Desk has the story.

ELIZABETH HARBALL, BYLINE¹: On the floor of a drilling rig on Alaska's northernmost edge, oil workers are dwarfed² by giant pieces of machinery³. They're pushing pipe thousands of feet below the tundra⁴ to tap one of the biggest oil fields in North America, Prudhoe Bay. You could argue - and a lot of people do - that Prudhoe Bay's billions of barrels of oil wouldn't have seen the light of day if it weren't for a little, old man who lives in a little, brown house in Anchorage.

Hello?

TOM MARSHALL: Hello.

HARBALL: Hi.

MARSHALL: I'm Tom Marshall.

HARBALL: Tom Marshall won't bring it up himself, but for many Alaskans, this unpresuming 91-year-old is a hero. I find an award tucked between the photos lining⁵ his living room wall.

What does it say? For extraordinary foresight⁶.

MARSHALL: For professional discernment and courageous⁷ foresight (laughter).

HARBALL: Marshall earned this award for something he did in the early 1960s, when he worked for the brand-new state of Alaska. He remembers it as a tense time with a tiny economy and population. It was a real question whether Alaska could support itself.

MARSHALL: There was a great deal of anxiety - just how we're going to accomplish this.

HARBALL: But under the Statehood Act, Congress handed Alaska something like a scratch-off lottery⁸ ticket without really knowing what was there. The state could select over 100 million acres of federal land in its borders. And if Alaska picked land with valuable resources, it would have a winning ticket.

MARSHALL: This land would put us in a position to pay our bills.

HARBALL: That's when Marshall, a petroleum⁹ geologist¹⁰, quietly became Alaska's most important employee. He was tasked with picking the land. And a ragged¹¹ chunk¹² of Arctic coast called Prudhoe Bay caught his eye. The geology reminded Marshall of big oil basins he'd seen in Wyoming. This could be the jackpot Alaska needed. But when Marshall suggested selecting a remote chunk of tundra on the icy ocean, Alaska's first governor, Bill Egan, was not impressed.

MARSHALL: Governor Egan's comment was, doesn't he know it's frozen?

HARBALL: But others thought Marshall was on to something. The federal government had started leasing land in Alaska's Arctic in 1958. And a handful of oil companies were laying plans to drill. Harry¹³ Jamison worked for one of those companies. Like Marshall, Jamison hoped there might be a billion-barrel oil field hiding up there. It would take that much to justify¹⁴ the astronomical¹⁵ cost of getting the oil to market.

HARRY JAMISON: Billion-barrel oil fields don't come along every day. There have been very, very few ever discovered in the United States.

HARBALL: Starting in 1963, BP and Sinclair teamed up and drilled six wells near Alaska's Brooks¹⁶ Range.

JAMISON: And all six were dry.

HARBALL: After that, other companies started coming up short. Eventually, that included Jamison's company, ARCO. The oil companies that had taken a risk on Alaska's North Slope started hemorrhaging money.

JAMISON: Yeah. It was extremely discouraging. So the whole industry was really down on the North Slope by that time.

HARBALL: During this time, Tom Marshall kept pressing Governor Egan to select Prudhoe Bay. Egan finally relented in 1964. But there were a lot of skeptics. When the Prudhoe Bay selection was posted, Marshall remembers someone scrawled¹⁷ a note across the map in 5-inch-tall letters.

MARSHALL: They wrote Marshall's folly¹⁸ on there.

HARBALL: After so many failed wells, Marshall's selection did start to seem like a long shot. By 1967, most oil companies had given up. Then, ARCO and Humble¹⁹ Oil teamed up and moved the only drill rig left on the North Slope to Prudhoe Bay. It was the oil industry's last shot. On a flight to check out the Prudhoe Bay well just before Christmas 1967, Jamison remembers looking out the window of the plane.

JAMISON: And you don't see anything. I mean, it's absolutely black. And it's not just remote and dark and cold. But it's downright dangerous.

HARBALL: Far in the distance, Jamison spied a single light from the lonely rig. A young geologist named Gil Mull was also there. Mull says for weeks, drilling the well wasn't all that exciting.

GIL MULL: It's almost like watching grass grow.

HARBALL: Then one day, they tested the well's pressure. When the crew opened the valve, Mull says there was a powerful burst of gas.

MULL: It sounded like a jet plane overhead. It's shaking the rig. It's a rumble²⁰. It's a roar.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Oil at Alaska's North Slope at Prudhoe Bay - a lot of it. Possibly the biggest discovery in history.

HARBALL: Alaska would never be the same. Today, the state of Alaska believes Prudhoe Bay contained about 25 billion barrels of oil in all. Marshall's selection helped transform the state into a powerhouse fueled by oil. Marshall says he was just doing his job. I ask if it still bothers him that so many people doubted him for so long.

MARSHALL: Oh, not at all, you know, because they're so wrong (laughter).

HARBALL: For NPR News, I'm Elizabeth Harball in Anchorage.

(SOUNDBITE OF NIKLAS AMAN'S "SEND RECEIVE")

GARCIA-NAVARRO: That story comes to us from Alaska's Energy Desk, a public media collaboration²¹ focused on energy and the environment.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

4 tundra   

n.苔原，冻土地带

参考例句：

• The arctic tundra is at the top of the world around the North Pole.北极冻原是指北极点周边的地区，是世界最高的地方。
• There is a large amount of methane gas under the Siberian tundra.西伯利亚的冻土地带之下有大量的甲烷气体。

5 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

6 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

7 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

8 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

9 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

10 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

11 ragged   

adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的

参考例句：

• A ragged shout went up from the small crowd.这一小群人发出了刺耳的喊叫。
• Ragged clothing infers poverty.破衣烂衫意味着贫穷。

12 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

13 harry   

vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼

参考例句：

• Today,people feel more hurried and harried.今天，人们感到更加忙碌和苦恼。
• Obama harried business by Healthcare Reform plan.奥巴马用医改掠夺了商界。

14 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

15 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

16 brooks   

n.小溪( brook的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks gave the business when Haas caught him with his watch. 哈斯抓到偷他的手表的布鲁克斯时，狠狠地揍了他一顿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ade and Brooks exchanged blows yesterday and they were severely punished today. 艾德和布鲁克斯昨天打起来了，今天他们受到严厉的惩罚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 scrawled   

乱涂，潦草地写( scrawl的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• I tried to read his directions, scrawled on a piece of paper. 我尽量弄明白他草草写在一片纸上的指示。
• Tom scrawled on his slate, "Please take it -- I got more." 汤姆在他的写字板上写了几个字：“请你收下吧，我多得是哩。”

18 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

19 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

20 rumble   

n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说

参考例句：

• I hear the rumble of thunder in the distance.我听到远处雷声隆隆。
• We could tell from the rumble of the thunder that rain was coming.我们根据雷的轰隆声可断定，天要下雨了。

21 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。