A protective liner beneath oil tanks at the Valdez Marine Terminal, center, is at the center of a new feud between the oil industry and the city of Valdez over safeguards against another spill in Prince William Sound. (Nathaniel Herz/Northern Journal)
Every day, millions of gallons of oil move from the Arctic through the trans-Alaska pipeline to the small coastal town of Valdez, 600 miles away.
There, high above the waters of Prince William Sound, the oil is piped into massive storage tanks, where it sits until ships come to pick it up, typically bound for refineries in the Lower 48…