2024 ESG Report FINAL - Report - Page 40
Managing Physical Risks
With re昀椀neries 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.
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:
• New infrastructure at raised elevations to
reduce the effects of 昀氀ooding.
• Upgraded critical buildings, including control
rooms and employee shelters resilient to
physical risks.
• Re昀椀neries designed to withstand hurricane
forces, with safe shutdowns and nonessential personnel evacuations initiated in
advance of major hurricanes.
Emergency response team at Valero St. Charles Re昀椀nery
demonstrates Valero's strong relationships with local
response personnel.
Hurricane Preparedness
Valero’s U.S. Gulf Coast facilities are periodically exposed to hurricanes and other severe weather events, including
strong winds, storm surges and 昀氀ooding. While our re昀椀neries are engineered to withstand these weather impacts,
our management and re昀椀nery leadership teams use a sophisticated hurricane-speci昀椀c preparedness program
to protect our people and assets. This includes pre-hurricane season activities, as well as a 昀椀ve-phase process
to monitor evolving conditions as the storm approaches, allowing for adequate time and resources for our
employees and facilities to safely prepare.
PHASE
1
At the start of hurricane season with facility plans reviewed and updated, verify supplies and
begin daily monitoring.
PHASE
2
Assess predicted storm path and potential for impact.
PHASE
3
Determine site(s) that are likely to be signi昀椀cantly impacted, and activate the Corporate
Emergency Operations Center, operating plan and contingencies, call center and equipment
and service providers.
PHASE
4
Execute shutdown, ride-out and/or evacuation plans.
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.
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