Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry Preserving AKs pipeline Kay Cashman Petroleum News Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.s proactive risk-based maintenance programs latest construction project is designed to protect the 800-mile trans-Alaska oil pipeline from the slow pace of melting permafrost attributed to climate change. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, or TAPS, was designed and built to manage changing environmental conditions, including permafrost zones, Alyeskas chief communications officer Michelle Egan recently told Petroleum News in an email. TAPS, which Alyeska has operated for more than 44 years, includes 420 miles of above-ground pipe on vertical support members, or VSMs, to accommodate permafrost conditions.