Tom Whitehurst

Reflections on Earth Day and a company's image

Among those who have contributed to today's local Earth Day observances are employees and management of Koch Petroleum Group.
   The company's $5,000 donation to the local Earth Day committee was in no way connected to the $20 million that the company paid earlier this month for environmental transgressions in Corpus Christi. The $20 million includes a $10 million fine and $10 million for local environmental projects.
   In addition to the donation, Koch's Earth Day participation included the volunteer time of Koch employees on the local Earth Day committee, said Joe Coco, vice president and refining and manufacturing manager for Koch in Corpus Christi.
   Coco wasn't working for Koch in 1995 and 1996, when the offenses occurred, but he gets to deal with the consequences. That included the privilege of entering the company's guilty plea in court. The company admitted to concealing its failure to comply with emissions requirements.
   The company didn't plan anything special for Earth Day, or in general, with an eye toward rehabilitating its image, Coco says. He acknowledges that the $20 million, plus $35 million assessed last year for oil spills in several states, present an unflattering image. That image, he says, is contrary to the way that the company conducts itself now.
   "They are issues that happened back in time," Coco says, "but they're coming to closure today and it's hard to differentiate today from the past."
   The company can clean up its image through its deeds, which Coco says include its efforts, along with other local industries, to maintain Corpus Christi's status as a clean-air city. Those efforts include reducing its emissions on Ozone Action Days and installing vapor recovery systems to reduce emissions when loading and unloading petroleum.
   The company also is reducing the sulfur in its fuel years ahead of the government deadline, as have some other local refiners.
   Koch is Nueces County's largest private property owner, with $639 million on the rolls, and one of its largest employers, with 1,000 employees. The $20 million sentence hasn't caused the company to rethink its position here, Coco says.
   A guilty plea, a $20 million sentence and Earth Day, all in the same month. Coco didn't shy from addressing Earth Day in that context. Nor did Koch shy from participating in Earth Day. It's a start.
  

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