History Repeats Itself: Mount Redoubt vs. the Drift River Terminal

Photo Credit: Alaska Volcano Observatory / U.S. Geological Survey

There has been much in the news about Mount Redoubt's recent and ongoing eruptions. There has also been much concern expressed about the Drift River Terminal, which is situated on the Drift River and coast of the Cook Inlet 23 miles away from Mount Redoubt.

The Drift River Terminal, originally built in the 1960's, is used to temporarily store crude oil that is produced from oil platforms in the Cook Inlet until it is ready to be shipped. With decreasing oil production in the Cook Inlet, only two of the seven aboveground storage tanks are reportedly in use. Currently, a total of six million gallons of crude oil are being stored.

During the eruptions from Mount Redoubt in 1989-1990, similar concern was expressed when lahars (volcanic mudslides) threatened the Drift River Terminal. The largest of the six lahars that reached the Cook Inlet from the 1989-1990 eruptions deposited approximately 1 meter of muddy sediment at the Drift River Terminal. Although there were no reported releases of oil, in the wake of the 1989-1990 eruptions, the Drift River Terminal fortified the existing spill containment berms around the seven aboveground storage tanks. The project was named one of nine Outstanding Engineering Achievements of 1990 by the National Society of Professional Engineers.

This video below, which I created, shows where the Drift River Terminal is located in relation to Mount Redoubt. When hot pyroclastic flows cascade down the northern face of the volcano, the resultant melting of snow and ice (and significant portions of Drift Glacier in 1989-1990) creates a deluge of ash and water. These volcanic mudslides, or lahars, come coursing down the Drift River Valley sweeping up rocks, uprooted trees and everything else in their path. Some of these lahars reach the Cook Inlet while others stop short. During 1989-1990, lahars from Mount Redoubt's eruptions dumped significant amounts of sediment into the Drift River which caused the course of the braided river to change multiple times.



Environmental groups, such as the Cook Inletkeeper, have asked Governor Palin to issue an emergency declaration and direct the deployment of oil spill response equipment and the removal of the remaining six million gallons of crude oil located at the facility.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported yesterday:

The Coast Guard, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and private company Cook Inlet Pipeline Co., have established the unified command over concerns with the Drift River oil terminal, 23 miles from the volcano.

Officials have said a $20 million berm built after the 1989 eruptions of Mount Redoubt is holding against flooding and mud slides created by the eruptions.

Gary Folley, the DEC's onsite coordinator, said the department is concerned about the threat the oil poses to Cook Inlet "if nature does get the best of the situation and there is a spill."

He said the quickest way to eliminate that threat is to remove the oil from the tanks, if it can be done safely.

But, he said, that was easier said then done.

If oil were to be removed, not all could be suctioned out, leaving more than 1 million gallons in the tanks.

And if it is removed, the tanks would weigh less and be more buoyant and susceptible to flooding if the containment layers were breached.

"We don't want to create a situation that is riskier than what we have now," he said.

The Coast Guard and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were at the oil terminal on Monday to assess conditions.

For the oil to be off-loaded, it would have to be done with a tanker, said Coast Guard Cmdr. Jim Robertson. But the safety of the crew and vessel is paramount.

He said a tanker is scheduled any time between April 4 and April 6, and the unified command is working with the tanker company to establish a plan to minimize any risk associated with removing the oil.

"We're not going to bring a tanker in until it's safe to do so, until we have a plan to properly and safely move that oil and mitigate the risk," he said.

But right now, officials said, the safest place for that oil is in the tank.

Several Alaska House Democrats also have written the commissioners of the Fish and Game and Environmental Conservation departments expressing their concern about the oil storage facility and asking to be updated on future plans.

"It's now obvious, and has been for a long time, that the existence of West Cook Inlet's main crude oil storage facility in a volcanic floodplain poses a danger to one of the state's most important fisheries," the letter says.

Cook Inlet Pipeline Company recently issued the following news release:

“The unified command takes the potential pollution threat to the environment very seriously,” said Cmdr. Joseph Lo Sciuto, Coast Guard Sector Anchorage deputy commander and federal on-scene coordinator for the Drift River event. “We are actively working to assess the full situation resulting from the volcanic activity of Mt. Redoubt.”

The establishment of a unified command is a way agencies that share jurisdictions and responsibility for an event can manage the response from a single command post. A Unified Command allows agencies with different legal, geographic, and functional authorities and responsibilities to work together effectively without affecting individual agency authority, responsibility, or accountability. Under a Unified Command, a single, coordinated action plan will direct all activities. The incident commanders will supervise a single command and general staff organization and speak with one voice.

The risks pertaining to the current location of the stored oil and any efforts to transfer that oil from the Drift River Terminal are being studied carefully by the involved agencies with support from qualified engineers and the experts at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

The oil is protected by three levels of containment. There has been no release of crude The concrete armored berm installed after the 1989 eruptive activity is intact. The two tanks that currently hold product are located furthest from the existing lahars. The lahar generated March 23, 2009 is serving to deflect additional lahars away from the facility to the south.

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) has been issuing daily situation reports and incident action plans in the event that there is a release.

Photo Credit: ADEC - S. Russell