Clock is Ticking on Finding a Buyer for Delaware County Refinery

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

January 10, 2012 | 4:53 PM

Todd Vachon / Newsworks.org

ConocoPhillips officials say their Trainer, Pa. refinery will be demolished if no buyer is found by the end of March.org

WHYY/Newsworks.org reporter Emma Jacobs reports that ConocoPhillips plans to swing the wrecking ball at its suburban Philadelphia facility if no offers are made by the end of March.

“ConocoPhillips says it will demolish its idled oil refinery in Trainer, Delaware County, if it fails to find a buyer by the end of March. Union representatives say they got the word in talks last Thursday with the company.”

Both ConocoPhillips and Sunoco announced in the fall they would shut down their southeastern Pennsylvania refineries unless they found a willing buyer. ConocoPhillips gave itself six months from September. Sunoco has also idled a facility and says it won’t give up on a potential sale until July.
But politicians like Congressman Bob Brady have complained that the companies aren’t even trying. The closures would mean a loss of more than 1200 jobs for the region. Sunoco says they plan to focus resources on the more lucrative pipeline business, taking advantage of the expansion of shale gas drilling. ConocoPhillips says needed upgrades to their facility would be too expensive. Read more of Emma’s story here.