ERIK SANZENBACH / L’Observateur / December 16, 2000

LAPLACE – Despite emotional appeals by residents of Garyville and Reserve,the St. John the Baptist Parish Council unanimously approved the issuance of$25 million in revenue bonds to the Marathon/Ashland refinery so the oilcompany can finance a controversial coker unit in the refinery.The refinery is building a unit that will crack petroleum into several products,one of which is coke, a coal-like substance that will be sold to electricalplants as fuel.The part of the coker assembly that has the residents of Garyville andReserve upset is the conveyor belt that will carry the coke through therefinery, over Louisiana Highway 44, or River Road, and unto waiting bargesin the Mississippi River.Residents say the conveyor belt will produce noise and pollution and will be aneye-sore to the area.The revenue bonds the parish is issuing will finance the coker unit and saveMarathon/Ashland several hundred thousand dollars in interest if it borrowedthe money through the banks.According to Hugh Martin, bond attorney for the parish, these special bondswere created by the federal government in the 1960s in order to helpindustry finance environmentally-safe plant equipment. The federalgovernment realized that to get companies to be ecologically sound, theywould have to help them finance the re-tooling.The pollution bonds are paid for by the company. In this instance,Marathon/Ashland is responsible for paying back the money, and the parishhas no financial obligation at all; all it does is issue the bonds. Even ifMarathon/Ashland should do the very unlikely and declare bankruptcy, St.John Parish would not have to pay a penny.The one big advantage for Marathon is the low interest rate on the bonds. Martin said the rate is floating and would be between 4 1/2 and 5 percent.Residents of Garyville and Reserve asked why the parish was making it easyfor the oil refinery to build equipment they thought was dangerous and aneyesore to their community.Garyville resident Stephanie Cambre said she did a lot of research on coke.”My main concern with the coker is pollution,” said Cambre. “There are a lotof carcinogens in coke, and they do cause cancer. This is a fact.”Jerri Broussard-Baloney, an attorney and Garyville resident, told the council,”I’m not anti-industry or anti-business, but to be rewarded you must be agood neighbor. Marathon has not been a good neighbor. I am in awe of theirdisrespect and arrogance.”Larry Eckleberger, manager of the Marathon/Ashland refinery, disputed theclaims of Broussard-Baloney.”I think we have been a good corporate citizen,” said Eckleberger. “We arerated the best refinery in the U.S., and we pay a lot of taxes.”However, he admitted the citizens had brought up some good points thatneed to be talked about, and he promised, “We will certainly sit down with thepeople and talk about all this. We have made soma changes, and we will makemore. I am willing to commit to sit down with the people.”Eckleberger told the packed council chambers the coker unit was aneconomic necessity for the refinery because of competition. “There are only two refineries in the U.S. without coker units, and we are oneof them,” said Eckleberger. “We need to be competitive.”According to Eckleberger, in the last 20 years over 200 refineries in the U.S.have shut down, and there are only 75 left.”It is important that we stay competitive,” said Eckleberger.Garyville businessman Carl “Butch” Baloney blasted the council for itscomplacency to the residents of western St. John Parish.”We expect our representatives to be gadflies for us,” Baloney said. “I thinkit is early in the season for you all to be sleeping with Marathon. We need thecouncil to back us. The government needs to help us.”Despite a promise by Councilman Dale Wolfe to put together a committee tocheck into the environmental dangers posed by the coker, he said, “It wouldbe foolish of us not to vote for the bonds. We cannot stop the coker.”Wolfe did say he is still not happy with the way Marathon hires people. He suggested, “Put a clause in the contract saying that a certain percentageof workers at Marathon will come from St. John Parish. It’s that simple.”Allen St. Pierre, who represents the district where Marathon/Ashland islocated, said from his experience at working at the Shell refinery, he doesn’tsee any big problems.”I don’t think we will have any dust at all,” said St. Pierre. “But I think thatMarathon has gotten a wake-up call. There has to be better communicationwith the community. I move that we OK the conveyance system.”Cleveland Farlough summed up the feelings of most of the council.”I think that Marathon should do more and hire more. But I’m not here to beatup on Marathon. I think it would be counter-productive to vote against thebonds. I’m voting for what is in the best interest of the people of Garyvilleand Mt. Airy.”The ordinance passed 9-0.Wolfe than moved that council attorneys Charles Lorio and Barry Landry andJerri Broussard-Baloney form a committee to look into the complaints of thecitizens about the coker plant. That motion also passed 9-0.Wolfe also asked council Chairperson Melissa Faucheux to contact thecorporate headquarters of Marathon/Ashland Oil and arrange a meeting withthe residents, the committee and the Reserve Marathon Refinery personnel.

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