GARYVILLE, La. — Inspection records and incident investigation reports from state and federal regulators indicate the Marathon Oil Refinery in Garyville has had some serious problems in recent years with chemical releases, fires and a workplace accident that left a man dead.
The probe comes after a thick, black column of burning smoke billowed over the refinery for much of the morning Friday.
Marathon executives said a leak of the chemical naphtha, which is used to manufacture gasoline, ignited around a massive storage tank. The company used a dyke to keep the fire from igniting nearby tanks that may have also contained highly flammable materials.
St John the Baptist Parish leaders evacuated a two-mile safety zone around the refinery as firefighters from across the metro New Orleans area descended on the site to help bring the flames under control.
It wasn’t the facility’s only fire in recent years. Records from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, or LaDEQ, reveal firefighters battled three additional fires at the site since 2018, two of which resulted in worker injuries.
In February 2022, nearby residents described hearing a loud boom when an explosion in another part of the gasoline-making apparatus set off a fire.
“I just heard the explosion. Then I heard the gas escaping. My wife and family were still in the house, and it shook the house,” LaPlace resident Leonce Haydell told WWL-TV in 2022.
Four workers were hurt.
An investigation into the blast by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA, resulted in a $14,502 federal fine for a serious violation of workplace safety standards.
Eight months later, in October 2022, another explosion at the refinery burned two workers, with one of them airlifted to a New Orleans hospital.
State inspection records indicate that fire burned for 10 hours.
OSHA once again fined Marathon Refinery for a serious violation of workplace safety standards, this time totaling $15,625.
The state records indicate Marathon Oil also reported a small fire on a line in 2020 that was quickly extinguished by the company's in-house firefighters.
“I sadly was not surprised,” said Anne Rolfes, Executive Director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, an environmental activist group.
Her organization has spent more than a decade looking into Louisiana’s refineries, including Marathon Oil.
“We spent a period of time researching refinery accidents in this state and and for a ten-year period, Marathon was one of the leaders in the state as far as accidents are concerned. So, you know, the facility has been a problem for a long time,” Rolfes said.
The group catalogued state accident investigation records into a master database from 2005 to 2015. It ranked Marathon Oil Refinery sixth for the most accidents out of the 17 refineries studied.
“We have a systemic problem here in Louisiana. Last month, there was a mushroom cloud from Dow in Baton Rouge. This month there's a horrible black plume of smoke from Marathon refinery. Until we get serious about electing people who will make the oil industry accountable, this will go on and on and on,” Rolfes said.
Marathon Oil also reported the death of a man at the site in November 2022 when he was pinned between two trucks. OSHA investigated and found it was an accident.
The chemical that caught fire Friday, naphtha, also leaked in February 2022, but it did not ignite that time.
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