BY KATHERINE YUNG

DETROIT FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER


After a lengthy delay, one of Michigan's biggest construction projects in recent years is expected to hit its peak of activity this fall, employing 1,300 workers in southwest Detroit.

Marathon Petroleum is about halfway through upgrading equipment at its Detroit refinery and expanding the facility, the only one in Michigan. Though the $2.2-billion project began three years ago, the work is slated to significantly ramp up in September or October.

The expansion will allow Marathon to process more Canadian oil sands, which will increase pollutants from the refinery from 2009 levels.

Marathon has promised to add 60 jobs and 75 contract positions after the project is completed in the second half of 2012. The company has 560 employees, including 160 contract workers, at the Detroit refinery. The expanded refinery also is expected to generate $230 million in additional city tax revenues during the next 20 years as well as an estimated $85 million in local and state taxes from wages and other spending.

Most important, the investment helps ensure that the 81-year-old refinery will remain open well into the future.

"This project takes us from being one of the slower antelopes to at least being in the middle of the pack," said Tracy Case, manager of Marathon's Michigan Refining Division.

But the massive investment is not without controversy. After the expansion, the refinery will be able to significantly increase the amount of heavy crude oil it processes. A key source of this heavy crude is the huge supply of oil sands in Canada. But environmentalists oppose tapping into the oil sands because they say it is the dirtiest source of oil.

Marathon also has not succeeded in hiring large numbers of Detroit residents, something it had agreed to do when it received the Detroit City Council's approval for $178 million in city tax breaks during a 23-year period.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/2011062...d-tax-revenues