Summary

AP-APTN-1830: US Alaska Sunday, 15 January 2012 STORY:US Alaska- Preparations for delivery of fuel from Russian tanker to isolated town LENGTH: 01:51 FIRST RUN: 1530 RESTRICTIONS: AP Clients Only TYPE: Natsound SOURCE: US Coast Guard Video STORY NUMBER: 723437 DATELINE: Alaskan coast, 14 Jan 2012 LENGTH: 01:51 US COAST GUARD VIDEO - AP CLIENTS ONLY SHOTLIST: 1. Aerial shot of US Coast Guard Cutter Healy in background, Russian oil tanker Renda in ice 2. Aerial, close up Healy 3. Aerial pan, both ships in ice 4. Various aerials of Healy circling towards Renda 5. Aerial Healy alongside Renda 6. Aerial, Healy cutting ice in front of Renda 7. STILL zoom in from 'Nome' city sign to Healy STORYLINE The ice that has cut off a remote Alaskan town for months will connect it to the world again when crews build a path over it to carry fuel from a Russian tanker that was moored half a mile from the town's harbour on Sunday morning. Workers were waiting for disturbed ice to freeze again so they could create some sort of roadway across the 2,100 feet (640 metres) from tanker to the harbour in Nome, upon which they'll rest a hose that will transfer 1.3 (m) million gallons (5.9 million litres) of fuel. A storm prevented Nome's 3,500 residents from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel in Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June. The tanker began its journey from Russia in mid-December and has slowly made its way towards Nome, stalled by thick ice, strong ocean currents and one of Alaska's snowiest winters in memory. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea, then headed to Dutch Harbour, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late on Thursday, the vessel stopped offshore and began planning the transfer to Nome, more than 500 miles (804 kilometres) from Anchorage on Alaska's west coast. A Coast Guard cutter cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker. Now, residents await the journey's final leg, which comes with its own hurdles: in addition to waiting for the ice to freeze, crews must begin the transfer in daylight, a state mandate. But Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year. A Coast Guard spokesman didn't know how long it will be before fuel flows as crews must wait 12 hours to ensure that the disturbed ice has refrozen. The crew of the 370-foot (112 metres) tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbour, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, the spokesman said in a telephone interview from Nome on Saturday night. Once crews create a suitable path for the hose to rest on, its segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow. Though the transfer must start during daylight, it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation said. It could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, she said. 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