Maybe by magic, I am only reporting what my banker told me. Obviously the path would not have been to the water in Prudoe.
Originally there were concerns of the oil going overseas and not to the west coast. Those concerns were by people who didn’t know how to read a map. Japan is 3 times as far away as the lower 48. I first thought you were referring to that concern.
There was never a way to economically build a pipeline a few thousands of miles to reach the mid-west. While it might have been discussed by politicians and other people not understanding economics, it was never a consideration by any oil company.