Joliet Refinery
Joliet, Illinois saw the opening of an oil refinery in 1973. The plant is owned by Exxon Mobile, and has a daily output of 238,000 barrels of crude oil.
This facility has been very successful since it opened, but there have been a few serious issues for plant owners to deal with over the years. One of the first was the necessary removal of all asbestos based products from the work site. These products were commonly used in this, and many other refineries for years, but eventually they were determined to be highly toxic. The items themselves were not hazardous, but the danger began when the products would start to crumble after many years of usage. As they began to break apart, tiny asbestos fibers would float up into the air, where they could be inadvertently ingested by anyone. Once inhaled, the asbestos could do a great deal of internal damage to the unsuspecting victim. The results of this damage may take several years to become apparent, but over time an individual who was exposed to asbestos may develop respiratory problems, cancer and a deadly disease called mesothelioma. Because the effects can often go unnoticed for long periods of time, anyone who worked at the Joliet plant, or any other location that had asbestos on site, is urged to notify their doctor about their possible exposure.
Asbestos was not the only issue that plant owners had to worry about. In 2005, local environmental groups who were cooperating with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accused Exxon Mobile of violating environmental regulations such as The Clean Air Act at the Joliet facility and six other locations. The final result was an agreement for Exxon Mobile to spend nearly $180 million in upgrades to their plant in Illinois. This money would go to securing better emission controls, improved monitoring of waste waters and creating cleaner methods of processing fuels. An additional $2.2 million was to be paid by the company to be used to benefit various environmental projects throughout the state. These projects included the restoration of the Midewin Tall Grass Prairie, emergency equipment for Will County, Illinois and money to supplement the Joliet Heater Control Project.
Currently, Exxon Mobile is working on the "Crude / Coker Utilization Project", which is a plan to construct a new processing unit that will increase the facility's output level while lowering the amount of emission produced a the site. The EPA has approved this project, and construction is planned to begin sometime before August of 2009.
Last modified: December 09, 2009.
