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Coffeyville Refinery

In 1906 a refinery was built in Coffeyville, Kansas by the he National Refining Company (NRC). At the start, the plant had the ability to produce 2,500 barrels of crude oil each day. The NRC sold the facility to Cooperative Refinery Association in 1944. By 2000, Coffeyville Resources LLC had taken over the refinery. By then the site had grown immensely and had a much higher daily output level of 112,000 barrels.

As the Coffeyville plant began to prosper, new equipment was built and the plant was expanded. During this time, many products were brought to the site that were made out of a naturally occurring material called asbestos. This was a common building block found in several industrial products for some time, until research turned up the fact that it is a toxic substance. Items made out of asbestos were able to last for a long time in high temperature environments, but eventually they would crack and crumble, and then release tiny particles into the air. These particles were regularly breathed in by plant employees, and once they had lodged inside the respiratory system, they would do great damage. Asbestos also became known for developing into a type of cancer called mesothelioma, which has claimed the lives of many unsuspecting victims. Years often pass before people develop any signs of illness after being exposed to asbestos, so anyone who worked at this facility, or any other site that contained products that were made with this hazardous material, should notify their doctor right away.

Massive flooding hit Coffeyville in July of 2007 when levees surrounding the Verdigris River were unable to contain the large amount of water that poured through it. Warnings about the flood had been issued, and the town got ready for an evacuation. Employees at the Coffeyville refinery made preparations for the flood and worked on shutting down the plant. When they left the plant, a valve to an oil tank was not closed down properly. As the waters swarmed over the facility, more than 90,000 gallons of oil flowed and mixed in.

Up to 1/3 of the town was covered in a mixture of water and oil by the time the flooding had come to an end. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved immediately, and worked to prevent the oil from spreading even further. Members of The Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) arrived in Coffeyville, and the city was soon after declared to be an official federal disaster area. Hundreds of residents lost their homes, and even as the waters began to subside, much of the area was covered with a thick film of oil. Both houses and businesses were condemned because they were too badly damaged to be saved.

In an attempt to make good within the community, Coffeyville Resources made an offer to purchase any home that was destroyed because of the spilled oil. Even with this offer, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company by a local resident who returned to find his business had been irreparably damaged. A law office was opened in Coffeyville specifically to deal with lawsuits pertaining to this tragedy.

Last modified: December 09 2009.