Sustainability Report: Emergency Preparedness at Marathon Petroleum

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) maintains an emergency management plan to ensure we are prepared to respond to unforeseen events. This article provides some insight into emergency preparedness at MPC. It was first published in our latest Sustainability Report.

Meticulous planning and preparedness are critical to effectively respond in the event of an emergency. Consistently strengthening our response capabilities helps us mitigate and minimize impacts to people and the environment in the event of an incident.

Each of our operating locations has an emergency response team and a site-specific emergency preparedness and response plan in place, tailored to the unique risks of the location. Regular drills and exercises are conducted to ensure that our teams can respond with precision and confidence should an incident occur.

Our response plans are reviewed and approved by several agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Coast Guard, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and various state agencies.

MPC’s Emergency Preparedness Group (EPG) oversees our response program, which includes companywide guidelines and procedures on how to prepare for and respond to emergencies. The group’s continued focus is to strengthen our capability to respond swiftly and effectively to any emergency incident at any of our facilities. The EPG staff coordinates with business components to share best practices and resources across the company.

For incidents that may require resources beyond those available at a local facility, the EPG maintains a Corporate Emergency Response Team (CERT). It is comprised of approximately 250 employees with response expertise and training in the Incident Command System, a globally recognized organizational structure designed to integrate resources across multiple agencies and organizations should an emergency event occur.

Emergency Preparedness Exercises 
To promote readiness, our CERT members and other emergency response personnel participate in various exercises and work alongside federal, state, local and tribal responders, such as the U.S. EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard, state environmental protection or wildlife agencies, tribal government representatives and local emergency responders, such as law enforcement and firefighters. MPC and MPLX maintain an emergency preparedness program to test and continually improve our response capabilities:

• Our exercises follow the guidelines of the federal government’s National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program, which meets the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and all federal, state and local requirements.
• Exercises help prepare for emergency situations and are used to review, critique and improve our emergency response plans.
• We take a collaborative approach to emergency preparedness. In addition to training our own employees and contractors, we engage federal, state, local and tribal agencies, local fire departments and other first responders, and community leaders who have an interest in the design and development of our plans and exercises.