Social Responsibility
Anacortes Refinery

The Anacortes refinery has won recognition for operating in harmony with the environment – an important consideration given its location near Washington state’s beautiful San Juan Islands.

In 2006, the Anacortes refinery completed the construction of a state-of-the-art emission control system to reduce air emissions from the Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU). Known as a Wet Gas Scrubber, the system treats the flue gas from the FCCU to remove small particles, also known as particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide before they are emitted to the atmosphere. The $24 million scrubber reduced the average sulfur dioxide emissions from the FCCU to the atmosphere by 95 percent, a reduction of more than 4,100 tons (or more than eight million pounds) per year. Particulate matter was reduced by 75 percent, or around 580 tons (more than one million pounds) per year.

When Tesoro made plans to implement this project to meet the requirements of a rule adopted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce airborne particle emissions, the company voluntarily chose to install a technology that simultaneously reduces sulfur dioxide emissions even though this scrubbing technology costs nearly twice as much as the equipment that would have only removed the particulate material.

Another environmental initiative at the Anacortes refinery is the unique EAGLES program - Environmental Awareness Group Learning Environmental Solutions. This group of employee volunteers sponsors and coordinate a wide range of programs benefiting the environment, including roadside litter cleanup, Earth Day commemorations, and ongoing communications on environmental topics to other plant employees. The refinery has also been honored by a Washington State regulatory agency for voluntarily producing a special gasoline blend that reduces air pollution from cars in the Seattle metropolitan area.