Pipeline transport oil-contaminated sediment and debris from the Kalamazoo River system. However, oil was still being found in affected waters in October 2012. Fossil fuels can be transported by pipeline, rail, truck, or ship, though natural gas requires compression or liquification to make vehicle transport economical. For transport of crude oil via these four modes, various reports rank pipelines as proportionately causing less human death and property damage than rail and truck, spilling less oil than truck, and having more environmental impact than truck or rail (mostly due to impact on habitat; ship transport impacts marine habitat to a large degree). Pipelines
Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System cost $1.4 billion. The percentage of the pipeline owned by various companies has changed over time, but as of 2009, the primary owner was BP, which controls 46.93 percent of the pipeline. Second is ConocoPhillips Transportation Alaska Inc. with 28.29 percent, followed in order by ExxonMobil (20.34 percent), Koch Alaska Pipeline Company (3.08 percent), and Unocal Pipeline Company (1.36 percent). The pipeline also has had a human toll. Thirty-two Alyeska or contract workers were killed during the construction project. That figure does not include common carrier fatalities. Since the pipeline began operating in 1977, 10 people have been killed while