Redoubt Volcano, with a summit elevation of 10,197 feet (3,109 m), is in the Aleutian Range on the Alaska Peninsula, situated between the Drift River to the north and the Crescent River to the south, approximately 9 miles (14.5 km) northeast of Crescent Lake and 52 miles (84 km) west of Kenai, Alaska. The volcano’s name is a translation of the Russian “Sopka Redutskaya,” first reported in 1852 by Mikhail Tebenkov, a hydrographer for the Imperial Russian Navy. According to Constantin Grewingk in 1850, the native name “Ujakushatsch” also means “fortified place.” However, it is unclear whether one name is derived from the other. Tebenkov noted that the volcano erupted in 1778.

The Drift River oil terminal, located at the base of Mount Redoubt near Cook Inlet, Alaska, is a tank farm used to store crude oil before it is loaded onto tankers for transport to refineries. Oil is transported to the tanks via the submerged Cook Inlet Pipeline, which connects the tank farm to oil fields on the west side of Cook Inlet. The facility and associated pipelines are owned and operated by the Cook Inlet Pipeline Company, a Houston-based corporation under Hilcorp Energy Company. The oil terminal was constructed in the late 1960’s, and at that time, construction of an oil storage facility at the base of an active volcano raised numerous concerns. 

Redoubt volcano had a major eruption on December 14, 1989. During this event, KLM Flight 867, a Boeing 747, flew through the ash cloud, causing all four engines to fail. The terminal at Drift River, which then held over 37 million gallons of crude oil, was threatened by volcanic ash and mudflows known as lahars. Concerns about a major oil spill at the tank farm resurfaced during another eruption in 2009. However, dikes constructed after the 1989-1990 eruptions successfully kept floodwaters away from the oil tanks. The Drift River oil terminal will eventually be dismantled after oil starts flowing through a newly configured pipeline system. Read more here and here. Explore more of Redoubt Volcano and the Drift River Oil Terminal here.