JOHN MELCHER PAPERS

This collection contains papers generated by the Subcommittee of Public Lands from 1973 to 1976 while John Melcher served as chairman. The files concern the trans-Alaska pipeline, originating from Prudhoe Bay Oil Field in Alaska’s North Slope and terminating at the Port of Valdez on Prince William Sound, and the relevant legislation, in particular, HR 9130. Papers comprise correspondence, right-of-way and route studies, technical reports on pipeline safety, fact sheets, itinerary for a subcommittee field trip, maps, photographs, articles, clippings, speeches, and transcripts of hearings given before the Subcommittee on Public Lands. A small portion of the collection contains material on the development of shale oil resources and the effects on surrounding communities.

This series begins with a report written by the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. titled Summary: Project Description of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System, August 1971, and a copy of a report on the Construction, Operating and Maintenance Costs, March 1972, which was part of a preliminary feasibility study. The remainder consists of correspondence to and from members of Congress and Chairman Melcher and news clippings regarding the many issues raised by the proposal to build a trans Alaskan pipeline. Also included are the itinerary, correspondence and new clippings regarding the field trip to Alaska by members of the Subcommittee on Public Lands.

This series contains committee reports, conference reports and hearing transcripts related to the pipeline bill HR 9130. Also included are transcripts of the 1975 oversight hearing on the construction of the pipeline, and a 1976 report on the issue of the pipeline welds.

Reports concerning the effect of the pipeline on wildlife and permafrost conditions, techniques of welding the pipeline, the explosion and fire at Pump Station 8, and the oil spill at Pump Station 9 form the series.

U.S. Department of the Interior correspondence and reports on coal trespass on Federal lands in Alabama and the Eastern United States form the first part of this series. The remainder contains correspondence from Cecil D. Andrews of the Department of Interior, to Harold Runnels concerning oil shale leases, copies of legislation regarding mineral deposits on Federal lands, and notes and reports on the development of shale oil resources.

Black and white aerial photographs of the Alaskan pipeline route, along with photographs of the pipeline components and of a Corp of Engineers pipeline comprise the primary portion of this series. Twenty-four photos are identified as part of a presentation by John E. Latz titled Remarks and Reflections on the Trans Alaska Pipeline System presented on October 16, 1974 to the Society of American Military Engineers, Washington, D.C. All of these photographs are identified by place, but not by date. An additional twenty black and white aerial photographs of the Columbia, and possibly other, glaciers form part of the series. Only four of these are dated.