ESG Report - Report - Page 37
STRATEGY
LOW-CARBON
ENVIRONMENT
SAFETY
COMMUNITY
PEOPLE
GOVERNANCE
Valero Ardmore
Refinery.
Valero St. Charles
Refinery.
Managing Physical Risks
Hurricane Preparedness
With refineries
along coastlines
and ethanol plants in the U.S. Midwest, Valero has
long evaluated and prepared for physical risks to its
facilities from natural disasters and weather events,
including hurricanes, tornadoes and other threats. Our
emergency preparedness and response programs are
focused on the mitigation of these risks.
Valero’s U.S. Gulf Coast facilities are periodically
exposed to hurricanes and other severe weather
events, including strong winds, storm surges and
flooding. While our refineries are engineered to
withstand these weather impacts, our management
and refinery leadership teams use a sophisticated
hurricane-specific preparedness program to protect
our people and assets. This includes pre-hurricane
season activities, as well as a five-phase process to
monitor evolving conditions as the storm approaches,
allowing for adequate time and resources for our
employees and facilities to safely prepare.
Enhancing Physical Resilience
In the last 10 years, Valero has invested more than
$14 billion of capital to sustain its operations, including
turnarounds, catalysts, investments in safety, preventive
equipment maintenance, environmental mitigation,
and reliability and regulatory compliance. Sustaining
capital is used to keep our facilities performing and to
mitigate and reduce physical risks to our operations
and our people, including:
At the start of hurricane season with facility
PHASE 1
plans reviewed and updated, verify supplies and begin
daily monitoring.
PHASE 2 Assess predicted storm path and potential
for impact.
• Upgraded critical buildings, including control rooms
and employee shelters resilient to physical risks.
PHASE 3 Determine site(s) that are likely to be
significantly impacted, and activate the Corporate
Emergency Operations Center, operating plan and
contingencies, call center and equipment and service
providers.
• Refineries designed to withstand hurricane forces,
with safe shutdowns and non-essential personnel
evacuations initiated in advance of major hurricanes.
PHASE 4 Execute shutdown, ride-out and/or
evacuation plans.
• New infrastructure at raised elevations to reduce the
effects of flooding.
Valero Meraux Refinery has spent more than
$156,000 over the last 10 years sponsoring
training for the St. Bernard Parish Fire
Department. Supporting local first responders
helps to mitigate potential risks to people,
assets, surrounding communities and the
environment.
PHASE 5 Initiate post-hurricane response, including
the assessment of impacts on employees, the
environment, surrounding communities and plant
operations and implementation of plans for recovery,
support and safe startup of operations.
ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL AND GOVERNANCE REPORT •
37
