due to their proximity to Alaska and midwest markets, their deep and 

 protected harbors, and the existing petroleum infrastructure in the 

 region ( including four large refineries ) . But many Washingtonians are 

 against the prospect of Puget Sound becoming a major transshippment 

 terminus for Alaskan oil because of the risk of damaging oil spills. 

 Puget Sound's recreational and natural resources are substantial; the 

 value of fishery resources (principally salmon) in the region is estimated 

 at between $80 to $100 million a year. In addition, Puget Sound has five 

 National Wildlife Refuges, four of which lie along an important oil 

 tanker route through the Rosario Straits. 11 



Prior to 1972 most of the oil refined in Washington State (300,000 

 barrels/day) came from Canada and the Trans-Mountain pipeline. Only 

 30,000 barrels a day were transported by tanker. Now this figure has 

 risen to 150,000 barrels per day as a result of recent cutback in Canadian 

 petroleum exports and will increase to the entire 300,000 barrels with 

 the elimination of Canadian exports in 1978. 12 Presently other sources 

 of crude (Alaska Cook Inlet, California, and foreign oil) are making up 

 the difference. 13 And soon Prudhoe Bay oil (around mid-1977) will be a 

 major source of crude for the region's refineries. 



The oil industry has predicted a surplus of oil on the west coast 

 once the Alaskan pipeline is completed. 11 * Given the impending shortages 

 of petroleum in the mid-west, several proposals have been made by industry 

 to transport surplus Alaskan crude to Midwest refineries. 15 One proposal, 

 made by the Northern Tier Pipeline Co., would build a pipeline from 

 western Washington to Clearbrook, Minnesota, in order to transship 



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