Billboard will say hello to refinery buyer
January 16, 2003
By Pamela Perkins
perkins@gomemphis.com
Memphis Commercial Appeal
The South Memphis Alliance is mobilizing to establish a good-faith relationship with the company buying the Williams Companies' refinery.
And it begins with a billboard greeting.
Connecticut-based Premcor Inc.'s purchase of the refinery is not expected to close until March 31, contingent upon regulatory approval. The up-to-$540 million sale was announced in late November.
But Reginald Milton, the alliance's executive director, said that by the end of the month the alliance will have a billboard at Interstate 55 near the refinery "asking Premcor to be more responsive to the community."
"The goal is to get them to the table where they will agree to standards," said Milton.
Use of the billboard comes from a $55,000-a-year advertising donation from the local division of Clear Channel Communications for the alliance's Don't Trash South Memphis" campaign.
The alliance became concerned about any sensitivity Premcor would have to its neighborhood after learning of its past problems with environmental regulators.
The Environmental Protection Agency and State of Illinois alleged the company made efficiency modifications to its Hartford, Ill., refinery without installing required pollution-control equipment.
A consent decree in late 2001 called for the company to install $20 million in pollution-control equipment and decrease its sulfur dioxide emissions.
The plant eventually was shut down.
Premcor spokesman Joe Watson declined to comment, citing a "quiet period" in which the Securities Exchange Commission requires no media interviews during the sale.
Milton said the alliance's billboard attempts to usher in a relationship with two main objectives: "to maintain an open-door policy with the community. The second is to ensure oversight."
He said the alliance is forming the Memphis Bucket Brigade, a community-based air-monitoring project.
As part of the Refinery Reform Campaign, several communities throughout the United States have formed "bucket brigades" using a sampling device inside a 5-gallon bucket to monitor chemicals in the air.
Milton also hopes to draw up a "good neighbor agreement" between the association, city government and Premcor. The agreement would set standards of safe operation, community input and oversight, he said.
The alliance, a coalition of seven area community associations, will distribute fliers and have guest spots on local cable public-access channels regarding Premcor, said Milton.
"It's critical that the community has a process in place to monitor emissions from the refinery," Milton said. "We're not trying to stop the sale. That's not something we believe is possible."
- Pamela Perkins: 529-6514
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