Paulsboro Refinery Valero
In 1980, the Coastal States Gas Corporation created a secondary company that was named Valero, which took control of all natural gas related operations. Valero was based in the Gulf Coast area, and in 1998 they expanded their territory by taking over a refinery in Paulsboro, New Jersey, which was originally established in 1917.
Since purchasing the plant from Mobil, the Paulsboro location has continued to thrive under the Valero guidance. Today the facility produces up to 195,000 barrels of crude oil on a daily basis. Much of this oil comes from reserves found deep in the Delaware River, and is used on a variety of important products including gasoline, asphalt, molten sulfur and propane.
The refinery received a great honor in 2004 from the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which is a program that is run by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration’s (OSHA). They were declared to be a "Star Site", meaning the plant has incredibly efficient industrial safety standards in place. This honor was a result of a standard OSHA audit of the refinery. During the audit the facility was found to be so well run that the process only took half of the time it usually requires, and afterwards there were no items that were in need of improvement. To receive a review that requires no improvements is extremely rare, especially for an oil refinery.
In June of 2008, the plant suffered a minor setback. A leak was discovered within an expansion joint of the machinery, and operations had to be stopped. The unit with the leak had to be completely shut down for repairs, but it was soon back up and running. A spokesperson for the plant claimed that following the minor repair, the facility was once again running at full capacity.
The leak was merely a minor setback for the plant, but it has faced a much more serious issue earlier in its history. For many years the facility utilized products that were made with the natural material known as asbestos. While asbestos was at one time considered to be an ideal material for items that were made to be used in high temperature environments, it was later discovered to be highly toxic. Any person who has been around asbestos has been put at risk of contracting respiratory diseases, and a cancer known as mesothelioma, which can be fatal. The dangers imposed by exposure to asbestos are serious, and any person who has been at risk of exposure should talk to their healthcare provider about it as soon as possible.
Last modified: December 09, 2009.
