More on Chevron Tank Farm
I’ve written a piece just for Huffington Post on Chevron’s tank farm:
Feel free to Buzz it Up, and leave comments.
Post Metadata
Date
March 25th, 2009
Author
AKMuckraker
Tags
Bob Shavelson, Chevron, Chevron tank farm, Cook Inletkeeper, Environment, Exxon Valdez, Huffington Post, Mt. Redoubt, oil spill
Wow AKM…you’re movin’ to the Big Leagues! Thanks for taking us along.
Great News AKM. You are a star.On may way over there to cheer you on.
Nice work AMK!
Still about oil but OT
http://community.adn.com/adn/node/139663
‘Nother kick in the teeth to GINO
The aid would “be welcomed at any time for our village members,” wrote AVCP President Myron Naneng.
“Even if it is from an ‘Axis of Evil,’ as Gov. Palin and the powers that be are not even trying to take a forceful action to prevent the disaster from occurring again, nor do they care about the plight of our people with inaction thus far,” Naneng wrote.
Oooops I meanAKM.
BTW, great article, AKM.
Grrrreat….AKM. I’ve been concerned all week and wondered when the MSM would start reporting on this…???????
Thanks. From your prompt and links this morning I sent e-mail to Chevron, Gov. Palin (though she has never responded to any of my e-mails…), and phone message to the Coast Guard.
AKM, now don’t go getting a big head and leaving us lowly bloggers behind:-)
Good job $ you even made it on the header- some folks I know have gotten stuff on HP but try to find it w/out a link! So kudos AKM.
Palin brought cookies.
“The Venezuelan oil company Citgo has confirmed it still plans to deliver free heating oil to thousands of Alaska villagers, probably in early April.”
Pretty said when GINO gets outdone by Chavez, isn’t it?
GREAT REPORT AKM…I have question though. The video clip from the TV Station said there were 600,000 gallons stored in two tanks. In your article on Huffpo, you said two different things. First you mentioned 6 million barrels, then further down in the article you mentioned 6 million gallons. What are the correct figures?
Way to go AKM !!
AKM, you ROCK!
Great article. After Katrina and the present economic crisis, it’s good to see someone raising an alarm before a catastrophe actually happens. AKM, you may have established yourself as the go-to person for news from Alaska.
AKM…I knew you when….
GREAT JOB!!
@Old Salt: I think that’s one of the major questions we need to find out from Chevron as they don’t appear to be giving out the exact figures, siting homeland security laws, or is that hiding behind that supposed threat, when a larger threat looms over head.
Great article……. and fellow mudpuppies, AKM has had quite a lot of articles in the Huff Po…this isn’t the first!!
IrishgirlNo Gravatar (14:15:44) :
Great article……. and fellow mudpuppies, AKM has had quite a lot of articles in the Huff Po…this isn’t the first!!
——–
i think I’ve read all of them. It’s always so great to see those yellow boots on Huffpo.
Excellent as always AKM –
Glad this is getting out to the world
Good questions, old salt.
Huzzah for AKM! I certainly hope your post gets some positive results.
Old Salt and Moose Pucky, AKM answered this in the last thread.
GA Peach a/k/a Crust ScrambleNo Gravatar (11:38:38) :
So KTUU got it wrong? @ 2:24 she says 600,000 gallons not 6 million. Which is correct? Either way, they should remove it immediately.
I’m writing, calling.
HERE:
It is six million according to Chevron itself. 74,000 barrels in each of 2 tanks. 42 gallons in a barrel. AKM
ADN reporting another large eruption to come within days according to AVO geophysicist Stephanie Prejean.
http://www.adn.com/volcano/story/735229.html
When I queried the EPA, Matthew Carr responded with US Coast Guard contacts:
“Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. I’ll forward them to the
USCG as they have jurisdiction over oil spill response in the Cook
Inlet.
Steven.T.Pearson@uscg.mil,
Michael.R.Franklin@uscg.mil
Great job AKM!
Good grief Charlie Brown!!! Exactly WHAT “brain trust” decided to put all that crude oil at the base of an active volcano and next to a river that feeds into the Cook Inlet? Must be the same idiot who allowed a drunk at the helm of an oil tanker. I imagine he looks much like Mad Magazine’s Alfred E. Newman saying “What, me worry?!” It’s simply the epitome of idiocy. Probably got huge bonuses for doing this. They should drain that thing as fast as a Hanoi hooker on her knees. Sorry about the “crude” but this makes me very angry.
Thanks for that 6 million clarification. Sorry I missed it before.
A bit of good news on the Wilderness Front.
“More than two million acres of some of the nation’s most important wilderness has finally received protection, with passage today of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.”
Good to see Alaska’s Don Young among the “ayes”. Credit where credit is due.
Most Excellent work there AKM. Nicely done. We are all very proud.
GA Peach a/k/a Crust ScrambleNo Gravatar (14:44:57)
Site requires registration, what does Prejean have to say? I am looking at the
AVO site but I don’t seen it anywhere obvious.
This is a subduction zone volcano similar in chemistry and probably general
behavior to Mt. St. Helens so there could be a distinct possibility of a lateral explosion. Unfortunately there are no tilt meter readings on Redoubt. That may be because it is glaciated but I am not sure, not familiar with the deployment of tilt meters.
AKM..WTG…Sooo glad you are bringing this out…Peole really need o know this…thx again…
@zrgmom (14:52:56) :
When I queried the EPA, Matthew Carr responded with US Coast Guard contacts:
“Thank you for your thoughts and concerns. I’ll forward them to the
USCG as they have jurisdiction over oil spill response in the Cook
Inlet.
Steven.T.Pearson@uscg.mil,
Michael.R.Franklin@uscg.mil
——
This does not sound encouraging.
Once again, AKM has chronicled another disaster-waiting-to-happen, i.e. GINO as VP. Unfortunately, this time, it may have fell on deaf ears when dealing with Big Oil and who knows what else with the state government.
Keep up the great work AKM. You are our hero(ine)!
@GA Peach, I really miss Lance the Boil!!!!
@Krubozumo Nyankoye (15:42:30) :
Here’s an excerpt of the article: But scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory back in Anchorage are not fooled. They’re almost certain that another big eruption at Redoubt is on its way — within days — and AVO geophysicist Stephanie Prejean can explain why.
One reason is its history. When the volcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage last erupted over a four-month span nearly 20 years ago — from December 1989 to April 1990 — it fell into a steady, telltale pattern that volcanologists call “dome-building.”
Unlike volcanoes in Hawaii that release liquid-like lava that slides down the side of the mountain, most volcanoes in Alaska contain a more viscous form of magma that barely oozes out the top before it hardens into a stopper-like cap. (Molten rock inside a volcano is called “magma;” molten rock outside a volcano is called “lava.”)
Two things usually happen next. One: Pressure from stoppered-up heat and gas inside the volcano builds, testing the dome. Two: The brittle dome collapses — then gets blown sky-high by the venting volcano.
“That’s what we saw yesterday (when Redoubt erupted for the sixth time in less than 24 hours), and it’s likely continuing,” Prejean said of Monday’s last eruption. “The seismicity last night and this morning is consistent with this continual dome growth at the volcano.”
Awww…..thanks, Irishgirl. Let’s see if this works.
Krubozumo NyankoyeNo Gravatar (15:42:30) :
GA Peach a/k/a Crust ScrambleNo Gravatar (14:44:57)
Site requires registration, what does Prejean have to say? I am looking at the
AVO site but I don’t seen it anywhere obvious.
—————
I opened it right up in another tab – it’s on ADN – Restless volcano signals eruptions to come.
Here’s the link again.
http://www.adn.com/volcano/story/735229.html
Hello Everyone. I live in Philadelphia PA. I love reading Mudflats. Thank you for this good reporting.
Thanks, AKM, for posting this. It was a pleasure to leave a comment at HuffPO.
We appreciate all that you do ( even those of us who are MAJORLY trying to get 200 tax returns filed by 4/15…pass the wine!)
You serve best when you serve your Alaskan people.
I just listened to Shannyn on the Ron Reagan show. She is such a marvelous articulate and intelligent voice. Her recount of the Valdez spill and the actions of Exxon in the aftermath was heartwrenching. I think there are many of us who never knew all the sordid and shocking details.
Alaska is lucky to have such strong, intelligent watchdogs as Shannyn and AKM.
In celebration of the passage of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act 2009 – I give you “Harry”. Sarah – Harry never misses.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/your-shot/wallpaper/2009/img/0316wallpaperys-1_1280.jpg
But, hey, we should also, too drill in the Alaskan Wilderness, there where the caribou roam, also, too. What’s the worst that could happen?
/snark off
AKM, I’m ticked off! I was the first to comment on HuffPo and I didn’t make the cut! Sheesh, all I said was great work, etc.
OT, but I have to share some comments from HuffPo about the newest GINO clothing issue, you know, the new ethics complaint. The people there are hilarious! (No slight to the mudpuppies at all.)
research: She looks a lot like Peggy Bundy from Married with Children.
Joeblue: I wish she’d take up escorting.
A Meat Beetle: “Alaska Legislators Taking Stimulus Money In Blow To Palin”
Nice to see Palin on the receiving end of a BLOW. Nice JOB, legislators.
Puller58: The woman is simply too stupid to understand what she’s doing.
LaPeche: How could we ever listen to anyone who wears that much blush?
GA Peach a/k/a Lance the Boil aka Crust Scramble,
Much better.
I hope Redoubt stays calm.
as always, akm delivers a great article. it is very nice to see those yellow boots.–welcome cherry tart. nice to meet you. you will like it here. we have fun and we do some good when we can….b
InJuneauNo Gravatar (15:48:46) : and
GA Peach a/k/a Lance the Boil aka Crust ScrambleNo Gravatar (15:55:47) :
Thanks, I found the latest VAN/VONA reports from the AVO on their site and they give essentially the same information but a little more detail. There are also a lot of photos of the effects of the earlier explosions on the Drift glacier/river system. Lahars are evident from those photos that have topped the back by two meters or more depending on how far downstream. I also read some of the more ancient reports on the 89-90 eruptions and apparently there is little reason to expect large lateral eruptions as the volcano is quite active and the history does not indicate them. Still with this type of volcano, there is a significant risk.
The most probable scenario appears to be one of cyclical dome building and collapse over a period of weeks/months. Dome collapse could lead to pyroclastic flows, hence to rapid melting and consequent Lahars on the Drift glacier/river system. (Apparently the dome that is active is “aimed” at the Drift glacier, although I gather that the weather has been too poor to confirm or disconfirm the presence of new dome building activity.
Although there are no doubt risks involved, this type of eruptive activity, once it has established its pattern, should afford periods of up to at least a few days at a time when it would be possible to draw down the oil stored at the tank farm and transport it elsewhere. One possibility is that the next cycle of eruptive activity will be larger scale than this one and consequently the Lahars will be much worse and the tank farm will be history. The opposite possibility is that the quiescent period will be long enough now to mobilize the resources needed to draw down the tank farm before another eruptive cycle occurs.
Since there is some evidence that the containment berms around the tank farm have already suffered some damage from the relatively minor Lahars in the first cycle of explosions, I would think that all possible haste should be employed in removing the oil stored there. There is some risk to workers at the site but one has to weigh the risk of the potential disaster that would ensue with release of this oil.
(A Lahar is a volcanic mudflow, they are dense and very destructive if large enough. A pyroclastic flow is a denser than air cloud of steam, volcanic gases, volvanic ash and rock that is also very hot > 300 degrees C. )
Let us hope Chevron, Alaska, and everyone else with responsibilty gets moving on this.
Thank you, AKM, and thank you, Krubozumo Nyankoye, for the information. Does anyone know what the the logistics would involve? Like most of us, I don’t even know how many tankers it would take to move most of six million gallons, let alone what it would take to locate the tanker capacity (could Chevron pay to have another company’s tanker coming to take on oil in Alaska diverted?) and how long it would take before oil could start moving. If we think that by badgering SP we can solve things, were are guilty of worse “magical thinking” than she. I can’t imagine the AK National Guard can do anything to help prevent disaster. Realistically, what can anyone do? Surely it’s too late to make money short-selling Chevron stock.
ChaimNo Gravatar (17:12:32) :
Thanks for asking those questions. I’d like to know, too.
A long period of dome building is common with this type of volcano. Such episodes will melt ice and snow, thus causing continued lahars. Do not be fooled into thinking a lahar is just muddy water. The destructive force is incredible. I’ll have to see if I can track down some good footage of mudflows.
OMG…… what is Palin, Chevron, and anyone else dragging their feet about draining down these tanks, smoking?
For God’s sake…..one only need to recall May 18th, 1980. If Mt. Redoubt blows like Mt. St. Helens, clean up just won’t matter. It will be impossible (and also very dark under all that debris, ash, etc). Here is the fact sheet for Mt. St. Helens, lest anyone forget exactly how powerful an eruption can be, and to ignore that danger just seems like they are daring ol Mr. Murphy to visit:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2000/fs036-00/
palin should be lucky she’s not in floriduh, place where a couple of kids got into trouble just for passing gas. can you imagine if those kids had committed ethical violations? bbbzzztttt… smokey the chair would be their future.
How about posting a link for the President and the Secretary of the Interior? Perhaps they should step in before it is too late.
womanwithsardinecan (17:17:19) :
“A long period of dome building is common with this type of volcano. Such episodes will melt ice and snow, thus causing continued lahars. Do not be fooled into thinking a lahar is just muddy water. The destructive force is incredible. I’ll have to see if I can track down some good footage of mudflows.”
Even a flash flood in a relatively flat dry river bed in the desert can push boulders the size of small cars and bite huge chunks out of a river bank.
So imagine what a mud flow going down a mountain side can do.
Well delivered article on Huffpost. Context, facts and then complete the circuit and lay it in Sarah’s lap.
I wonder if her ears are ringing ’cause just about everybody in Alaska I’m sure is talking about Mt. Redoubt and is waiting for Sara to do something.
Now with the article and some sources using the video of the mud slide the secret is spreading. If she does nothing the whole country will know about it.
here are a few things to look at.
http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/lahar/ruiz.php
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news/geologists_witness_unique_volcanic_mudflow
http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol204/volhaz&pred.htm
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/Lahars/description_lahars.html
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Rainier/Maps/osceola_map.html
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Imgs/Gif/Rainier/OFR95-642/rainier_mudflows.gif
TOTALLY OT OT
I finally got an update posted on my trip to the Sustainable Agriculture Workshop last week in Fairbanks. (It took a little time to thaw the fingers for typing:-))
I learned so much I can’t get it all in one update. More will follow.
Thanks to all who help send me.
We will be working to get some ideas out to both Ann’s and my area of the state.
http://anonymousbloggers.wordpress.com/
Also THANKS for all the support on the Chinook By-Catch issue. We got 19 PAGES of COMMENTS and SUPPORT submitted today to the committee.
We will be updating you after they meet the first week of April.
Again thanks so much,
Victoria B
Ugashik, AK
victoria@anonymousbloggers.com
@ CherryTheTartNo Gravatar (16:00:50) :
Hello Everyone. I live in Philadelphia PA. I love reading Mudflats. Thank you for this good reporting.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Hello Cherry ~ from the city of brotherly love!
I hope that you’ve been wearin’ your boots, for we’ve been traipsing through a lotta mud lately….and some poo, too! And I agree; the excellent reporting here is addictive, indeed!
Welcome.
Just a quick back of the envelope calculation on the transportability of that much crude. It comes out to ~150,000 metric tonnes of oil. That could be transported by two moderate size 100,000 DWT tankers or one larger and one smaller tanker. As a rule oil companies do not own tankers but charter them (liability anyone? Exxon Valdez) so there is no easy way to know what kind of tanker capacity is available within easy reach of the terminal. Presumably there are a few “empties” lined up heading for Valdez so they could be contracted if all parties were to cooperate.
Just my opinions but will offer the following anyway. It seems like the main responsibility here falls on the State of Alaska, that’s a pity, because SP (the most knowledgeable person in the country on energy), seems to be asleep at the switch. Three full days have passed since this activity began and so far as I know, nothing has come out of the State Gov. Action is of paramount importance at this time, because it is completely unpredictable whether or not a bigger and more destructive eruption will occur soon, later in the cycle, or not at all. To gamble that nothing worse is going to happen would be, to put it frankly, nuts. I think the USGS could provide some insight into this issue since the record of past Lahars on the Drift river might have been scrutinized by them. Then again, given their budget and priorities, I doubt it.
I’m not a lawyer so I can’t offer any speculation about how governments at any level might be able to “motivate” Chevron and who ever else ultimately gets involved, to move quickly and with alacrity.
That is the criteria they should be held to. If they don’t act soon, they will be obfuscating. This problem is really pretty simple, move the oil.
AKM, I was on my break at work, and I decided to check my websites on my phone, and I came across your response to SP’s question about carharts, school team…. I swear I laughed for hours. You made my day. That reply about the prostitute was priceless. I also read your article on HuffPo. It was a great article! Love your posts.
Krubozumo Nyankoye (18:38:47) :
We have a hard time pinning down were SP is. She might be out sledding with Todd on there Arctic Cats in matching suits, selling girl scout cookies, sun tanning, shooting a few wolfs, looking for cracks in doors, or working on another book deal in her comfortable home office. She has a PR department that tells us she likes to take care of her people 24/7/365. But then again she told those people what to say.
Yet when there is a need for leadership on critical issues, or pending environmental disasters which would economically cripple are fishing and tourist industry in south central Alaska, she is most likely waiting for higher powers to lead the way.
This is the era of the, ” End of Times” , accounting to her scary spiritual realm, which guides her “Magical Thinking Political Realm”. So we here at the mudflates use humor to hide are fears.
So, AKM among many other services, has become a sounding board for aware people that are scared with the fact that we have a, Governor In Name Only (GINO) for the state of Alaska.
We are scared with this administration in power.
Great article, very incisive, right on point. We need to try to ‘splain to Chevron management that when this (hope it doesn’t happen at all) case hits the SCOTUS in fifteen years, there might be several different different Justices.
We also need to press for an investigation into how the EPA ever cleared an oil terminal that stands between an active volcano and a major fishery.
Sometimes I think we deserve to become extinct.
OK, Inquiring minds need to know:
Question 1: Are oil tankers moving on Cook Inlet or is it still frozen over? I was looking for fly over maps but couldn’t tell.
Question 2: How does the oil get into the tanks and have they stoped putting oil into tanks? Since they have evacuated people at the tank farm who is not in charge of monitoring what is happening at the site?
Question 3: If they have stopped flow into tanks, where are they putting it now?
Great article on HuffPost AKM. One of your best articles IMHO. I love how you ever so subtly embedded info about how GINO does not take responsibility in times of crisis. Someone wrote that this is GINO’s “Katrina” – hell no, Emmonak was, and her score on that? FAIL.
WooHoo! Great job, AKM!
this is off topic, but i’m hoping someone will know where i can get hold of a transcript of la palin’s lincoln day speech.
the contents are being quoted all over the place and it sounds hilarious (though not in the way she intended). i need it for a creative endeavor i’m thinking about.
anyone know where i can find it, do me the kind favor of leaving me a note in any comment thread in my blog. thanks!
@UgaVic (18:12:28) :
TOTALLY OT OT
I finally got an update posted on my trip to the Sustainable Agriculture Workshop
Also THANKS for all the support on the Chinook By-Catch issue. We got 19 PAGES of COMMENTS and SUPPORT submitted today to the committee.
Victoria B
Ugashik, AK
============
Vic – After these past few days of discussing relatively depressing–albeit important–matters, your news here is so well-timed, and ABSOLUTELY JUST WHAT WE ALL NEEDED! (I can sorta understand why MarthaUYS left to hang around with you ……)
Wa-Hooooo !!!!!! Way to go!
@Krubozumo:
Your input on this subject is illuminating and priceless. Thank you for taking the time to spell it out for us. I’ve learned a lot from your posts.
I made a comment on possible logistics of getting that oil out of there on the last thread. Here it is again:
No roads to anywhere I don’t think, so no trucks. I believe that the oil would all have to be pumped out into tanker ships and moved on out of there. Could be difficult to do that, since the ash would affect ship engines as much as it would truck and airplane engines. NOT that I’m at all supporting the fact that this facility is at the base of an active volcano or suggesting that they were smart to leave the oil there; I’m just pointing out that it may, actually, be difficult to move it at this juncture.
Great Ariticle AKM !
Here is another email address for Chevron.
comment@chevron.com
Does anyone know what the original environmental impact study, that was most likely required to be done before this tank farm was build, said about the safety of this Tank Farm being located beneth a volcano?
Has Pretty Pretty Princess Palin made any public comment about this?
Here is a better question, does the Governor even KNOW that there is a volcano errupting that she can see from her house?
Lance..I really like Georgia peach..it’s a keeper
new good night post …
A hella article, AKM. Thanks for that.
I posted this on the last thread, good to see so many on the same page.
Repost!
This does not bode well. What a coincidence that another oil disaster is looming so near to the Valdez anniversary.
I don’t think people are going to wait 20 years of ‘court’ this time around.
Realistically, don’t expect the Governor to do anything, again. A human disaster was looming in the Yukon Delta villages months and months ago and if it wasn’t for bloggers sending food and money for fuel, those people wouldn’t make it to spring.
The Alaskan Governor did nothing to avert that disaster and when goaded into doing something, brought cookies and evangelicals. There was no declaration of an emergency, no state airlift of provisions — nothing. Yet, it was all in her power to organize something more than a photo shoot.
Now tell me what’s so different with this issue?
She isn’t going to do squat. She actually believes that taking action in times of crises reflects poorly on her. It’s sad, but true. In this case, there are the oil companies she wants to inveigle. oops, conflicted much?
Guess we’ll have to do it ourselves, once again. Oh it’ll embarrass the hell out of her and she’ll do anything to thwart taking some concrete preventative measures ensuring that those oil tanks don’t rupture and flood everything in oil.
That oil has to be moved, immediately, by all means necessary, no ands ifs or buts or alsos. If the Pompeiian’s had volcano detection, would they have evacuated the city? Knowing of imminent danger is one thing, doing something about it is another.
They say the dinosaur became extinct because of a radical change in climate.
The human race may become extinct when we can’t live off the polluted land anymore. Future archeologists won’t guess that it were the laws and money which lead to the extinction.
Praying things will work out just doesn’t cut it, Palin. Now move it or face your recall, you haven’t been doing your job, for all of the people of Alaska.
karen marie, I think it was at Diva’s site that I found one of the videos of GINO at the Lincoln dinner, and she provided links to the rest of the speech. The one on Diva’s site looks like she’s alternately ready to cry and on the verge of snarling and spitting. Whacko.
T e a m SP made it to huffpost….. Please go and buzz the story up and write a response. This is such an important issue.
I have a couple questions and haven’t seen any information – how did the oil get to the holding tanks? Any pipelines in the area? Transported all by tankers? Trucks? Are the roadways even passable now? The oil is obviously taken out by tankers but how did it get there? My other comment about why they were built there in the first place – follow the money, I’m sure Ted Stevens had something to do with it and a few other corrupt officials. Bend a few rules, hand out a few tax breaks, who cares about environmental concerns about a slumbering volcano, the ring of fire, active fault lines … so what if there was warnings in ’89 …