- Pine Bend Refinery
The Pine Bend Refinery is the largest
oil refinery inMinnesota , located in the Twin Cities suburbs of Rosemount and Inver Grove Heights next to southern split ofU.S. Highway 52 andMinnesota State Highway 55 . The refinery is notable for being the largest in theUnited States to be located in a state without any oil wells. Overall, it ranks 14th in the country as ofJanuary 1 ,2005 , with an input capacity of 265,000 barrels (42,131 m³, 11,130,000gallon s, or 42,131,633liter s) per day [http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/rankings/refineries.htm] . The facility is owned byFlint Hills Resources , asubsidiary ofKoch Industries (pronounced the same as "Coke"). It is colloquially referred to as the "Koch Refinery."The plant was first constructed in 1955 by the Great Northern Oil Company. Koch purchased a controlling interest in the plant in 1969. Since then, capacity has been tripled.
Most
petroleum enters and exits the plant through pipelines. Most of the incomingcrude oil comes fromoil field s inCanada and is brought from the northwest to the facility through the Lakehead and Minnesota pipelines. Additional crude comes from the south via theWood River Pipeline , though plans are in place to reverse the flow of that line.The plant has a dedicated pipeline to the
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport that provides much of thejet fuel for aircraft. Another major exit route for distilled products is theWisconsin Pipeline , which brings fuel eastward into the neighboring state. Fuel is also distributed bysemi-trailer truck s,railroad cars, and, occasionally, riverbarge s.In the 1990s and the year 2000, Koch was forced to pay US$19 million in environmental fines because of improper management of emissions. In 1999, the company accepted a challenge from the
Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA) to set up an independent monitoring group to keep track of emissions at the plant. Emissions were reduced to below 50% of 1997 levels, the last year for which data was available at the time. In nearby Rosemount and Apple Valley, incidence ofasthma and other respiratory illnesses, especially among children and the elderly, were almost double national average levels for much of that time.As of 2001, Minnesotans were using a total of 7.2 million gallons of
gasoline per day, and fuel use continues to climb in the region by about 2% annually. About 70% of the gasoline fuel used in the state comes from Pine Bend and the nearbySt. Paul Park Refinery , while most of the rest comes from a combination of theMandan Refinery inNorth Dakota , and theSuperior Refinery inSuperior, Wisconsin . 40 to 50% of Pine Bend's output is used within the state. Flint Hills is currently planning a $100 million expansion to increase capacity at the plant to about 330,000 barrels per day.References
*Neal St. Anthony (May 5, 2005). [http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/5388350.html On business: The winners: Environment, ethics, investors.] "
Star Tribune ".
*Neal Gendler (July 2, 2005). The Big Gulp. "Star Tribune".
*(March 2005). [http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/state/mn.html Petroleum Profile: Minnesota.]Energy Information Administration .External links
* [http://www.fhrpinebend.com/ FHRPineBend.com] , collaborative site between Flint Hills Resources and MCEA
* [http://www.fhr.com/minnesota/default.aspx Flint Hills Resources: Minnesota]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=rosemount,+mn&ll=44.76709,-93.028708&spn=0.030408,0.085316&t=h Google Maps: Pine Bend Refinery]
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