Imigrants, Part 1

Arctic Prowler commercial fishing vessel

On the flight back to Portland from Omaha, I am sitting with a guy from Ethiopia. Actually he is from South Sudan, but at some point the border moved and the place he is from is now in Ethiopia. He is big, maybe 6 foot 2, and black, as you might expect. He was 16 when he came to the USA. He is 37 now. He lives in Anchorage Alaska.

Alaska Pipeline
The fancy antennae looking things attached to the top of the support posts are radiators so the heat from the oil doesn't melt the permafrost.

Sometimes he works patching the asbestos (!) insulation on oil pipelines, sometimes he goes fishing. The boat is 135 feet long and has a crew of 32. He works from crew shares. In a good month the boat will bring in $600,000 worth of fish. He makes about $10,000 a month. And yes, he is aware of the danger of working with asbestos and he takes precautions.

Asbestos was banned from most uses in 1980, but construction of the Alaska pipeline began in 1974, so much of the insulation is very likely asbestos. It's a continuing issue with pipelines everywhere.

Asbestos' continuing long-term use after harmful health effects were known or suspected, and the slow emergence of symptoms decades after exposure ceased, made asbestos litigation the longest, most expensive mass tort in U.S. history . . . - Wikipedia