ABSTRACT
Longer and larger pipelines had been built before. But the trans Alaska oil pipeline was different. Political pressure and legal action by the environmental groups served to clarify the National Environmental Policy Act process and expectations. The people of Fairbanks hardly knew what to expect when pipeline construction began in 1974. Fairbanksans were concerned with questions of whether there would be a pipeline, when there would be a pipeline, and what part of the pipeline action Fairbanks would get. While the long-term effects of the pipeline on Fairbanks will have to be left to the interpretation of future historians, there is an immediate need for a better understanding of this community's experience with a contemporary "gold rush." Fairbanksans were concerned with questions of whether there would be a pipeline, when there would be a pipeline, and what part of the pipeline action Fairbanks would get.
