Clamp slows leak from Alaska pipeline

FAIRBANKS, Alaska -- Crews on Saturday installed a clamp over a bullet hole in the trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline, which has leaked about 285,600 gallons of oil into the wilderness over the past three days.

The temporary fix has reduced flow onto the ground from as high as 140 gallons a minute to about a half-gallon a minute, said officials with Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., which operates the 800-mile pipeline. Workers also used a hose to channel oil away.

A more permanent fix could be in place by Saturday night.

A man who had been drinking shot the pipeline Thursday with a hunting rifle in what the governor called "a hare-brained act of violence." Before the clamp was installed, oil under high pressure sprayed through a small hole onto trees, brush and tundra. Regulators said there was no evidence that any wildlife has been affected.

"We anticipate it will take literally years to get the area free of contamination," said Bill Howitt, an Alyeska vice president based in Fairbanks.

Workers had built a series of dikes to contain the spilled oil and keep it away from the Tolovana River, about a mile away.

The suspect, Daniel Carson Lewis, 37, is charged with felony assault, weapons misconduct, criminal mischief and driving while intoxicated in connection with the shooting. He was being held in Fairbanks on $1.5 million bail.

According to documents, Lewis, who has an extensive criminal background, had been drinking before shooting the pipeline with a .338-caliber rifle. He allegedly fired four shots before the fifth penetrated the pipe.

Lewis then fled on an all-terrain vehicle, according to the documents. His brother, Randolph Lewis, remained at the scene and explained to pipeline security officers what had happened. Investigators have not determined why Daniel Lewis started shooting.

Gov. Tony Knowles said state officials would be taking another look at security along the 800-mile pipeline. Alyeska had beefed up security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The pipeline carries about 1 million barrels of oil a day, or 17 percent of domestic oil production.