Company applies to shut down Drift River oil terminal

The owner of the Drift River Terminal has applied to permanently shut down the facility.

Kenai radio station KSRM reports Cook Inlet Pipeline Co., a subsidiary of Harvest Pipeline, submitted an application to the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to discontinue use of the terminal.

The company also applied to discontinue the terminal's tank farm, the Christy Lee loading platform, and the portion of pipeline that extends from the Drift River Terminal to the Christy Lee Platform.

The Drift River Terminal holds crude oil in tanks just below Mount Redoubt, an active volcano.

The company last fall announced its plan to decommission the terminal and transport oil through undersea pipeline across Cook Inlet to Nikiski.

CIPL want to begin decommissioning activity at the start of 2019.