At an Industrial Showcase held at the Garyville refinery, elected officials, regulators, employees and others gathered to celebrate MPC’s having won an ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). MPC was the only refiner to earn the award this year. It recognizes MPC for our outstanding efforts to increase energy efficiency throughout our business.

Although the Partner of the Year award is a company-wide accomplishment, the Industrial Showcase was held at Garyville because of its special status when it comes to energy efficiency. Garyville has earned the EPA ENERGY STAR award for 13 consecutive years – every year the award has been available to petroleum refiners. The only other refinery in the nation to achieve that has been MPC’s Canton, Ohio, refinery.

“We are proud of our Partner of the Year recognition,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Gary Heminger. “Our refineries have earned more of the EPA’s ENERGY STAR awards than all other refining companies combined, and we apply this focus on energy efficiency and environmental performance throughout our operations.”

Whether it’s Garyville, Canton, or any of our other refineries or operations, MPC doesn’t rest on its laurels; our engineers are always looking for new opportunities to become even more efficient, which saves the company money and reduces our environmental footprint.

That focus on energy efficiency is one of the factors that helped MPC earn the Partner of the Year award, and will be an ongoing contributor as we apply for the award in the future.

At the Industrial Showcase, Refining Energy Technologist Edward Fox provided an overview of MPC’s energy-efficiency program, noting that each refinery has a dedicated energy coordinator who identifies and tracks energy operating parameters and develops a plan to achieve best-in-class performance.

The result has been cumulative savings of about $400 million and reduced greenhouse gas emissions intensity of over 15 percent.

Another speaker at the event was Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Secretary Dr. Chuck Brown, who said that as the LDEQ executes its mission to protect the citizens and the environment of Louisiana, it’s encouraging to know that companies like MPC take environmental stewardship seriously.

Bruce Bremer, ENERGY STAR Strategic Industrial Energy advisor, noted MPC’s leading industry position when it comes to ENERGY STAR recognitions and called our energy program “world class.”

Tim Peterkoski, manager of Environmental Auditing and Processes, said the event was a huge success. “We were able to demonstrate our commitment to our value of environmental stewardship to elected officials, regulators, employees and some of our industry colleagues,” he said. “Just as important, we were also able to share ideas about how others can save energy in their operations. We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, but also looking ahead to even more achievements.”