Stranded on the slope

I never realized one could be stranded on the north slope in summer. I knew it was possible in winter with the high winds and blinding snow storms, but not the summer time. Well, Alaska has figured out yet another way to defeat our struggle to pump black stuff out of the ground by knocking out our bridges.

The Kuparuk river flows through the middle of the oil field, and is frozen 3/4 of the year. However, it has an annual increase in levels due to melting snow from the Brooks Range mountains south of us; as a result, this water and ice flow can knock out our bridges. Last year was mild, thus the bridges were saved. This year, particularly bad and it even washed out the road leading to where the bridges once were...

You may ask if this is a result of global warming, to which I would reply "shut up". This has been going on for 35 years, and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Also, BP will continue to build cheap bridges that can be knocked out yearly so the root cause is still there.

I'm somewhat busy now, but I did want to let you know I'm trying to get your gas prices down.

-Russell

May 3rd Update

To the few readers that have stuck by this long, thanks. I apologize for not writing sooner, I've been busy (and frustrated) with work and every time I wrote a post it was either of poor quality (I enforce stringent QC standards here) or bitter.

All of that has passed now, as today is the anniversary of my entrance into this world. Lo, 24 years ago I appeared and changed all your lives into the magnificent things they are now... such eloquence...

For those that didn't know or I didn't see, I was in Houston for all of April training on our higher tier tools. This was a great opportunity to learn some neat theory, see family and enjoy God's country of Texas.

My last few days have been hectic as I have managed to travel back to Alaska, move to a new apartment and get back to the north slope to work in under 72 hours. Not a world record, but damn close.