Chevron Tanks on Cook Inlet Endangered by Volcano - Drain, Baby, Drain (The Mudflats)

[Blue_In_AK]

Photo courtesy of Alaska Volcano Observatory

Here’s the latest update from the Chevron website concerning their tank farm on the Drift River at the base of Mt. Redoubt.

March 24, 2009: 10:00 A.M. AST Update

A preliminary aerial recon assessment done yesterday afternoon (March 23rd) revealed there was significant mud and water around our Drift River Terminal. Some mud and water topped over the outside dike but very early indications are that the dike was not breached and performed as intended. The berms around the tanks also appeared intact and no water made it into the containment areas. There was mud around the terminal hangar and some water appears to have made it to some of the industrial buildings that house offices, equipment and pumps.

As soon as it is determined that it is safe to do so, specially trained personnel will be dispatched to the CIPL (Cook Inlet Pipeline) terminal to assess the extent of any damage. CIPL will then develop comprehensive plans to complete any cleanup and repairs as soon as practical in order to place the terminal back into service.

Chevron has released these pictures to the media, and presumably we are supposed to feel better that the berms around the oil tanks have not been breached. But clearly from the pictures the containment wall is at its limit, as mud flow and debris are starting to lap over the side.


Chevron tanks with the Drift River (L) and Cook Inlet directly behind.




So right now, according to the group Cook Inletkeeper, there are 6,000,000 gallons of crude oil with volcanic mud flows pressing up against a containment wall one side, the Drift River which flows right into Cook Inlet on the other side, and an active volcano spewing ash 9 miles high right up the hill.

Is Chevron going to drain these tanks? Well, they’re not sure. They are talking about it. They can’t make up their minds. Decisions, decisions….

Have I mentioned that these photos were taken on the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill?

So, while Chevron executives are stroking their beards, scratching their heads and chewing on the ends of their pencils, wondering what to do, and while the Alaska Volcano Observatory tells us that we could be experiencing activity and further eruptions for weeks or months, it might be a good time to drop them a little note and tell them what you think. (Contact information below)

Drain, baby, drain.

Here’s a press release from Cook Inletkeeper:

ANCHORAGE, AK – Cook Inletkeeper today called on Chevron and responsible state and federal agencies to draw-down oil stored at the base of the erupting Mt. Redoubt volcano in Cook Inlet, Alaska. Chevron had previously refused to divulge the volume of oil in tanks at the Drift River Terminal, citing Homeland Security Act concerns. At the outset of the Mt. Redoubt eruption yesterday, however, Chevron announced over 6 million gallons of oil remaining at the tank farm. Reports late Monday revealed significant flooding and debris flows at the Drift River terminal.

“Since the start of the current seismic activity at Mt. Redoubt, Cook Inletkeeper has been criticized for asking Chevron how much oil remained in the tanks at Drift River, and why it could hide behind the Homeland Security Act when Alyeska reports the same information every day at the Valdez Terminal,” said Bob Shavelson, Executive Director of Cook Inletkeeper. “Now it’s time for Chevron and the responsible state and federal agencies to safeguard Cook Inlet fisheries and the families and businesses they support, and to get the oil out of the terminal in a safe and responsible manner.”

The Drift River terminal sits immediately adjacent to Drift River, which experienced similar flooding that threatened the oil facility the last time Mt. Redoubt erupted in 1989-1990. The facility sits in the middle of Cook Inlet’s rich and highly productive sport and commercial fisheries. The Alaska Department of Fish & Game estimates the value of commercial and sport-caught fish in Upper Cook Inlet at well over $1.5 billion in 2008.

“We depend on clean and healthy Cook Inlet fisheries to feed our families,” said Tom Evans, an Alaskan Native from the Village of Nanwalek in Lower Cook Inlet. “It makes no sense to store oil at the base of an erupting volcano.”

“Today is the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and we’ve learned that complacency is not one decision, or 100 decisions, but thousands of small decisions that lead up to a regulatory safety net that’s riddled with gaping holes,” said Shavelson. “We call the situation in Cook Inlet “The 1000 cuts of Complacency,” and it’s time we learned the lessons of the Exxon Valdez.”

“My livelihood depends on fresh, healthy Cook Inlet salmon,” said Ben Jackinsky, a commercial setnet fisherman from Kasilof. “This is a replay from the last eruption in 1989, and Chevron and our state and federal agencies need to take steps now to protect our fisheries.”

In public statements, Chevron has suggested it retained oil in 2 of the 7 tanks at Drift River to maintain tank stability. But the fact that 5 tanks are apparently empty undermines Chevron’s rationale.

“Worker safety is paramount, and we need to ensure the oil can be removed in a safe and orderly fashion,” said Shavelson. “But we never knew Chevron planned to keep 6 million gallons of crude at the base of an erupting volcano until yesterday, because Chevron kept hiding behind the façade of Homeland Security.”

Public agencies responsible for the safe and legal operation of the Drift River terminal include the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game.

NOT IN THE MOOD FOR ANOTHER OIL SPILL?

CONTACT:

Governor Sarah Palin -[phone] Email - HERE http://gov.state.ak.us/govmail.php


Chevron - Email HERE. http://www.chevron-pipeline.com/contact_us.asp

U.S. Coast Guard - [phone]

Video of flyover available HERE. http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10065196

This is following up on Mudflats' earlier post on this topic here: http://www.themudflats.net/2009/02/12/chevrons-oil-between-the-devil-and-the-deep-blue-sea/

Also see AKMuckraker's post on HuffPo here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akmuckraker/drain-baby-drain-6-millio_b_179157.html

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Spill baby Spill...

Queen Sarah will kiss it and make it all better.

Edit...They had better start loading every empty tanker in the area ASAP.

[Arctic Dave]

3. If they unload it then they have to refine it.

If they do that, then they will lose money by not choking off supply. One of the reasons we still have the highest gas prices in the country.

[Hubert Flottz]

7. You are exactly right...

The entire shortage thing has been a scam that Bush and the GOP let the oil companies and the Saudis get rich on.

They have been Gouge Baby Gouging us to death. A major factor in the wrecking of the economy, IMHO.

[TornadoTN]

2. Palin is facing her very own Katrina

She's been too busy being the GOP's "savior" to actually do her job (did she ever do it?).

When the shit hits the fan over this Volcano and pending environmental disaster - and it will - she's going to be left holding the bag and her whole fancy life that she has planned for herself and her brood will be gone in a heartbeat.

But the cost may be another environmental disaster - which could have been easily avoided. It's not like this thing just happened upon them - it's been active for quite some time.

[malaise]

4. What has Palin said about this or is she waiting to

scream Oops when the oil spills all over the Cook Inlet?

[vinylsolution]

5. Is Palin working around the clock....

... with her oil buddies, to help prevent another disastrous spill?

tumbleweed rolls past....

[Hubert Flottz]

8. Sarah is working around the clock to put some lipstick on

that mountain that is about to blow it's top.

Sarah is too busy hiding facts from investigators to do anything about anything.

The GOP, builders of bridges to nowhere.

[scarletwoman]

6. What kind of brilliant mind came up with the idea of locating an oil terminal

at the base of an active volcano? Didn't anyone ever raise the possibility that, gee, that might be kind of a stupid thing to do?

Those are rhetorical questions, of course. Having lived in AK, I understand quite well how such things happen. Still, :eyes:

sw