Murphy Oil USA, Inc.
Superior Refinery Community Advisory Panel
November 6, 2003
Minutes
Attendees: Asst. Chief Scott Campbell, Megan Corbin, Bobbi Engstrom Germond, Charlie Glazman, Pat Heiser, Terry Jacobson, Jay Mitchell, Courtney Podvin, Sister Genevieve Schillo, Tom Strewler, Kaye Tenerelli, Jessa Wicklund.
Industry Representatives: Liz Lundmark, Corey Mead, Dave Podratz.
Guests: Mike Coyle, Murphy Oil, Norm Dunbar, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Facilitator: Tod Lyons, Ann Green Communications, Inc.
Minutes: Tod Lyons.
The regular meeting of the Superior Refinery Community Advisory Panel (CAP) was held on Thursday, November 6, 2003 at WITC. Facilitator Tod Lyons called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.
Tod reviewed the agenda and team agreement. The minutes of the October meeting were approved as presented.
Refinery Update
Dave Podratz mentioned five reportable air events related to the sulfur unit since the last meeting. The highlights of each incident are on the enclosed Plant Update insert.
Additionally, Dave mentioned the refinery charged almost 40,000 barrels per day in October, which is the second highest throughput on record. He said they need to address the incinerator reliability issues.
The Sulfur Recovery Unit and Tail Gas Treating Unit (TGTU) were shut down for two days to install a smaller burner in the TGTU to address the flame instability problem. Modifications were also made to the incinerator. The fixes were not completely successful, but Murphy is evaluating options.
Murphy is looking for a new cleaning contractor as their current contractor CEDA is no longer working at Murphy.
There was one recordable injury, which resulted in a twisted knee for the employee. It had not yet turned into a lost-time accident as of the meeting.
Charlie asked about the Meraux facility near New Orleans, as it was reported some time ago that they had a fire at the plant. Dave said the plant is coming back on line and it will not have any impact on operations at their facility in Superior. Meraux is Murphy’s other U.S. refinery.
Committee Reports
Communications – No report, except to say it would be nice to get some CAP presentations going again in surrounding communities. Jessa Wicklund continues to update the website adding more information as it becomes available. Soon, photographs will be available on the site. The site address is: www.superiorcap.org.
Emergency Preparedness – Tad Matheson brought the one-page add from the Century Telephone Book about Shelter in Place. It is on Page 22. He has yet to see a bill, so either they were not charged, or someone else picked up the tab. Tad also suggested the Emergency Preparedness Committee meet again soon.
Jay Mitchell asked about revising the area schools crisis plans and will talk to Tad about what they can do to improve their plan.
Youth Education – Tom Strewler, Chairman of the Committee reported on mini-grants. The committee had gotten together recently to review seven mini-grant applications packages. They chose two groups of the seven to receive $500 each. One is a local high school, the other a local elementary school. He expects with the cold weather coming, the schools may have to wait until springtime to do their projects.
Tod will write the letters congratulating the winners and send regrets to the others. They will be completed and signed by Thursday, Nov. 13. The winners’ letters will be sent to Dave Podratz who will enclose a check for each school and get them out in the near future. The students of the winning groups will give their presentations about the projects at the May 6, 2004 CAP meeting. (Copies of the winning applications are included for CAP members who were not present at the November meeting).
It was determined that mini-grants should be considered for next year as well. The announcements will be made in September and applications will need to be in by October 2004. Tom asked to be removed from the actual voting process, as it could be perceived as being a conflict of interest since he is an educator at a local school. He will continue to chair the committee, just not vote when it comes time to make the final choices.
Dave suggested they might be able to use the web to have applicants print an application package to send it, as opposed to sending them individually. As we get closer to sending out information for mini-grants next year, the committee will determine the best way to approach it.
Odor Complaint Monitoring Update
It was suggested at the last meeting that the Odor Complaint Monitoring remain an agenda item until it is resolved. Dave thinks they have a way for people to file complaints via the internet. Murphy thinks they have figured out a way for this to happen, however, since there is a new computer person at Murphy, they will wait until he gets up to speed on his new job and then see how they can implement the process.
Corey Mead gave a presentation about Murphy’s oil spill response capabilities. He provided a PowerPoint presentation (enclosed for those who were absent from the meeting).
Following his presentation, the students on the CAP had a hands-on, get your hands dirty exercise with the CAP on how to handle oil spills. They had worked with Corey and brought in samples of various oil-spill clean-up equipment and products. CAP members were divided into groups of two and each given a mini-pond, complete with dirt and grass. Vegetable oil was used to simulate an oil spill, and the CAP members used different products and processes to try to clean up the oil spill in their bowl.
Photos were taken during the evening and will be available on the website. CAP members had fun trying to clean up the oil and learned themselves, what type products work best on a real oil spill.
The next meeting will be Thursday, January 8, 2004 at the Bong Heritage Center. CAP members are asked to come up with topics they would like to see discussed during the upcoming year. The next meeting topic is: Murphy’s Tail Gas Unit. A planning meeting for 2004 will be held in February.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.
The Bong Heritage Center
5:30 p.m. - Dinner
6 p.m. – Meeting