We work with care

An Alliance of Responsibility

Rich Bedell's career with Marathon began at the Garyville, Louisiana, refinery in 1979. Since then, he has worked at Marathon facilities around the United States and was appointed Garyville refinery manager in 2001. In this role, he is involved with the $3.2 billion project to expand Garyville's capacity by 180,000 barrels per day. When completed in 2009, this expansion will provide the U.S. with an additional 7.5 million gallons of clean transportation fuels to the market every day.

"From the beginning, what struck me about Marathon was how much opportunity and how much responsibility you are given at all points in your career," Bedell said. "I have worked at Garyville four times and am proud to see how its workforce and reputation have matured. The capper for me is this expansion project because of its sheer scale; it's the largest project Marathon's ever done. Very few people in the world get a chance to do something like this.

"Essentially, the expansion means building a brand new refinery at the site," Bedell said. "My role is to ensure the refinery continues to operate safely, while hiring and training a new workforce, and integrating the expanded operations into our existing production.

"Garyville's license to operate depends on taking care of our employees, our community and our shareholders. Safety and environmental performance are integral to this. Every day our culture reinforces that safety is not just the safety department's job, it's everyone's job. Employees' commitment is reflected in our U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OHSA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) Star status. We are also part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Environmental Performance Track.

"Today, we made a difference by ensuring that we remained committed to our safety culture, environmental performance and high standards."