[StBernard] Murphy Oil wants county land for buffer, possible expansion

[Westley Annis]

Editors note:  This article is about a Murphy Oil plant in Minnesota, not
Meraux.  I thought St. Bernard residents would be interested in this which
is why I am sending it out.
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Murphy Oil wants county land for buffer, possible expansion
NEWS TRIBUNE
Murphy Oil wants to enlarge the buffer around its Superior refinery by
purchasing 66 acres of county-owned property.

On Tuesday, the Douglas County Land and Development Committee voted to put
the land, valued at $150,000, up for public bids.

The committee will open bids on Feb. 28. The county board will vote on
selling the property after that.

"We can't sell it directly to them," committee chairman Keith Allen said.
"Hopefully they will be the only bidder and it will be pretty clean, but if
there is another bidder we will have to make a decision then."

While Murphy wants the county property northeast of the refinery primarily
as a buffer, it's possible the company may expand the refinery in the
future.

"There's talk of expanding the refining capacity in this country," Superior
refinery manager David Podratz said. "We have no concrete plans right now,
but we're always looking at things. And if we ever do expand, having that
additional buffer zone will be handy."

The refinery has a capacity of about 35,000 barrels a day. It employs 154
workers.

Podratz said that if Murphy buys the property, it will leave the land
unfenced and open to current uses, including archery deer hunting.
"If we're successful in obtaining the property, you won't see any changes
out there in the immediate future," he said.

Douglas County Board Chairman Douglas Finn said selling the property to
Murphy would be a good deal for the county.

"It's land that's of little use to anyone, so it's good Murphy wants to buy
it," Finn said. "It's good for Murphy to have a buffer, and hopefully some
expansion might materialize in the future."