What makes greatness is starting something that lives after you... “For the past 50 years, the men and women of Cedar Bayou have left a legacy to be proud of — the

greatest of all is the family culture that this facility has.” ~ Plant Manager Van Long

A look bAck on

50yearsof excellence

This is part 1 of a two-part series.

Look for the “Next 50 years” in February.

2 The Baytown Sun

Gulf Oil - 1963 to 1984

H.W. Blackwood(1962-1973)

John Strausser(1973-1976)

Larry Lucchesi(1977-1995)

Scott Meyer(1995-1999)

Rick Roberts(1999-2000)

Greg Hanggi(2000-2004)

Dan Coombs(2004-2008)

Van Long(2008-Present)

Cedar Bayou Plant Managers

Gulf Oil donates derrick

The “Beaumont No. 54” oil derrick was originally located in Tabbs Bay approximately three-

quarters of a mile southeast of where it is now in Bayland

Park. It represents hundreds of oil derricks that were erected, beginning in the early 1900s, in what is commonly known as

the Goose Creek Oilfield. It was donated to Baytown by Gulf Oil in July of 1984 and erected in Bayland Park after Hurricane

Alicia devastated the Gulf Coast on August 18, 1983.

50 Years of excellenceWhen Gulf Oil Corp. decided

to build a new chemicals plant in 1962, Baytown was a growing community thriving on oil and gas production. Some 230 peo-ple attended a Baytown Chamber of Commerce lunch on March 13, 1962 to hear Gulf Oil Corp. vice president Dr. Alexander Lewis Jr. discuss his company’s plans for the 1,000 acres of prairieland just east of the town’s center. Attendees of the lunch paid $2.50.

“The growth rate of petrochem-icals will continue to be substan-tially higher than that of both the chemical industry as a whole and the overall U.S. economy,” Lewis told the crowd.

It was an exciting time for Baytown as Gulf Oil Corp.’s new petrochemicals project was being represented as the initial develop-ment of what someday is expected to be a “vast complex of interrelat-ed industrial facilities.” Named the Cedar Bayou plant, about 15 acres of the 1,000-acre site would be pre-served for future expansion.

Baytown Mayor Al Clayton at-tended the historic Chamber lunch alongside County Commissioner V.V. Ramsey, County Judge Bill Elliott, Houston Chamber of Com-merce executive vice president Marvin Hurley, and congratulatory telegrams were sent by Texas Gov-ernor Price Daniel and Texas Sena-tors John Tower and Ralph Yarbor-ough.

“The Cedar Bayou plant is an-other first for Gulf because it is the first chemical plant not situ-ated within the confines of one of the company’s existing refineries,” Lewis said.

Mr. “Gulf” of BaYtownOn October 21, 1963, the Cedar

Bayou plant’s first ethylene unit started up and production began. The new ethylene unit would more than double Gulf Oil’s existing production. In 1967, a low-densi-ty polyethylene unit was also con-structed on the plant’s vacant west end. The plant also added a normal alpha olefins production during this time. The Cedar Bayou plant would be state-of-the-art and include a laboratory, water treating system, maintenance shops, and adminis-tration facilities.

The geographic location of the plant was favorable in relation to raw material supplies from the growing pipeline grid in Texas and the nearby underground storage fa-

cilities, or salt domes, in Mont Bel-vieu. Initially, approximately 65 people were employed at the plant.

H.W. Blackwood was select-ed as Cedar Bayou’s first plant manager. He would serve for 11 years from 1962 to 1973 and was known around the community as Mr. “Gulf.” Blackwood started a long-standing legacy of community involvement in Baytown for Cedar Bayou, having served as director of the Baytown Chamber of Com-merce, director of the Goose Creek Country Club, member of the Tex-as Chemistry Council, and named Executive of the Year in 1970 by the San Jacinto Chapter of National Secretaries Association.

When Blackwood retired in 1973, a fishing pond inside the Cedar Bayou plant’s fenceline often used by employees during their time off was named Lake Blackwood. The fishing pond is still known as Lake Blackwood today.

the first expansionJohn Strausser was named Cedar

Bayou’s second plant manager. He served from 1973 to 1976. Strauss-er had left the company’s research headquarters in Pennsylvania to take the top job at the Cedar Bayou plant. Strausser was at the helm for the plant’s first expansion project in 1975 – 12 years after the facility was built and Gulf Oil Corp. first promised Cedar Bayou would be-come a vast complex.

A new ethylene unit was built in 1975 that is still in operation to-day. At the time, the new ethylene unit quadrupled the Cedar Bayou plant’s output of high-purity eth-ylene, raising the capacity to 1.6 billion pounds per year.

By 1976, the Cedar Bayou plant’s employee base had increased to 350 workers – 250 of which were Gulf Oil employees and 100 were nested contractors from Brown and

Gulf Oil installs new Cedar Bayou plant sign on I-10 frontage road in 1964. The new, lighted sign cost $14,000.

see expansIOn • Page 3

The Baytown Sun 3

In August 1981, Gulf Oil sponsored the purchase of the scoreboard at Stallworth Stadium in Baytown.

Otis Mattiza, Gulf Oil’s superintendent of engineering, is pictured on the far left giving a tour of the operations con-trol room of Cedar Bayou plant’s first ethylene unit to unknown community members.

Cedar Bayou plant’s current ethylene unit is shown under construction in 1975. This unit quadrupled the plant’s production capabilities and eventually replaced the original eth-ylene unit that opened the plant in 1963.

Ethylene Unit

Root. During the expansion projects, construction work-ers peaked at 2,500.

“The majority of the labor force associated with the expansion work at the plant are area residents, and the project itself is pumping ad-ditional millions of dollars into Baytown. When com-plete, it is estimated that the expansion will create 100 new permanent jobs, thus, having a lasting impact on the community,” Strauss-er told the Baytown Sun in 1975.

Strausser left the Cedar Bayou plant in 1976 to work at the company’s Houston headquarters. He and his wife Ruth are still residents of Baytown.

What legends are made of

In the early days of the Cedar Bayou plant, employ-ees wore cowboy hats, west-ern boots and blue jeans to work. Family Day events were held inside the plant and kids were welcome to

play inside large boxes of plastic pellets. The 1980s brought about a crash in the U.S. oil boom and halt-ed Gulf Oil’s expansion plans. Cedar Bayou needed a strong leader to take the plant into the next era.

Larry Lucchesi is what legends are made of. He was Cedar Bayou’s third plant manager from 1977 to 1995. He remains the longest-serving plant man-ager in Cedar Bayou’s his-tory. He is remembered as a strong-willed leader who knew what he wanted.

During his tenure, the Ce-dar Bayou plant experienced many great times and many great challenges. From the plant’s transition from one owner company to another to the Great Flood of 1994, Lucchesi’s name is still spo-ken on control room floors and is always followed by a “remember when ...” com-ment. When he retired in 1995, a pavilion on Lake Blackwood that employees use for meetings and social gatherings was named in his honor. The pavilion still stands today.

COnTInued frOM pAGe 2

Expansion

Proudly partners with Chevron Phillips

celebrating 50 years in Baytown

“Leaving a Legacy in the Community”

Rotary Clubof Baytown salutesChevron Phillips

Cedar Bayou Plant

On � eir 50thAnniversary

4 The Baytown Sun

Salutes Chamber Member

www.westchamberscoc.comwww westchamberscoc comt h b

50th Anniversary

On Their

WEST CHAMBERS COUNTYChamber of Commerce

CHAMhambe

S l t CSal

The greaT merger The era of Gulf Oil ended

for the Cedar Bayou plant in 1984. During this time, the company was negotiating what newspapers called the “largest business takeover in U.S. his-tory” when Standard Oil Co. of California, also known as Socal, merged with the strug-gling Gulf Oil Corp. for $13.2 billion. The fate of the Cedar Bayou plant was unknown.

“A spokeswoman for the Gulf Oil Corp. in Pittsburgh said Monday it was too ear-

ly to know how the sale would affect employment at the company’s Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown,” reported the Baytown Sun on March 6, 1984.

When the deal was complete by the end of the year, Socal transferred its newly-acquired Texas Gulf Coast plants to Chevron Corp., which at the time was owned by Socal. A new era thus began for the Ce-dar Bayou plant as it became part of a multi-billion dollar

Chevron Corp. - 1985 to 1999

Bruce Ma-rantis and Wilbert Huff are shown in the fore-ground of the newly built reac-tors of the polyeth-ylene unit, which started up in 1991.

A groundbreak-ing ceremony was held at the Cedar Bayou plant in 1989 to commemorate the start of construction of two reac-tors for a new polyethylene unit.

see CHevron • Page 5

The Baytown Sun 5

The East Harris County Manufacturers Association congratulates our

Neighbor in Industry

Congratulations to the Cedar bayou Plant

for 50 years in Baytown

oil, gas, and chemicals company.Chevron Corp. wasted no time

investing in the Cedar Bayou plant. In September 1985, the company announced an expan-sion of the plant’s existing alpha olefins unit by 50 million pounds per year. The company also built two new reactors for the polyeth-ylene unit.

The greatest challenge the Ce-dar Bayou plant faced during its time under Chevron Corp. was the Great Flood of 1994. Then-plant manager Larry Lucchesi told the Baytown Sun “it was the worst disaster to strike the plant in its 32-year history.” The plant was shut down for eight weeks

while em-ployees worked around the clock replacing elec-trical equipment, such as pumps and motors located near ground level. It would be Lucchesi’s last adventure before retiring as plant manager in 1995.

(To read more about the Great Flood of 1994, see page 7).

Safety above all elSeScott Meyer was Cedar Bay-

ou’s fourth plant manager, serv-ing from 1995 to 1999. During this time, the culture in the pet-rochemical industry was rapidly changing. Security and safety re-quirements became more strin-gent. Hardhats, steel-toed boots, and fire retardant clothing be-came mandatory. Visitors were

r e -quired to pres-ent a photo ID before entering the plant.

With this focus on safety, the Cedar Bayou plant took on the challenge of becoming an OSHA (U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration) STAR site under the federal agency’s new Voluntary Protection Pro-gram (VPP). Employees started working on becoming a VPP member in 1991, creating safe-ty, health, and security standards that are well above regulatory requirements. The Great Flood of 1994 delayed the OSHA au-dit until 1995. In 1997, only 340 companies in the United States had been able to achieve OS-HA’s prestigious VPP designa-tion, including Chevron Corp.’s Cedar Bayou plant.

“It’s a tough test and the stan-dards are high,” Scott Meyer told the Baytown Sun on November 19, 1997.

Since then, the Cedar Bayou plant has maintained a strong safety culture amongst employ-ees. The OSHA VPP designation has been re-approved five times since 1997, and the Cedar Bayou plant has coached 11 of its nest-ed contractors into becoming VPP-certified as well, making the Cedar Bayou plant an OSHA STAR site. As of 2013, the Cedar Bayou plant surpassed NASA Johnson Space Center in having the most onsite contractors with VPP certifications.

Continued from page 4

chevron

I got a call one morning to come down to the old 1791 control room. I didn’t get any details but was told it might be interesting. Needless to say, my interest was piqued. I went down there and waited. Two ve-hicles filled with people pulled up and out of one, a black SUV, was Tommy Lee Jones. I walked up to Mr. Jones and extended my hand and said, “Wow they didn’t tell me Clint Eastwood was coming today.” We all had a good laugh and

come to find out they were all here to scout out a movie loca-tion. The old alpha olefins unit was still standing at the time so we toured it, Lake Blackwood, and the Lucchesi Pavilion. While walking around the pa-vilion, Mr. Jones spotted a coral snake and was very protective of it, bending over and admir-ing its beauty.

I presume our site was not chosen since that has been a few years back, but it was a memo-rable moment none the less.

Cedar bayou plant employee Craig Dickey remembers the day tommy lee Jones came to visit

employees (from left) Kitty allen, Craig dickey, and Howard davis pose with actor tommy Lee Jones in 2004 during a movie location scouting trip at the Cedar Bayou plant.

Will Baird, left, and Bennie ulrich are suited up in firefighter gear during one of the Cedar Bayou plant’s emergency response team training ses-sions.

Belinda ralston and Jerry Hale were the first employees assigned to lead the Cedar Bayou plant’s newly formed S.t.a.r. (Safety together achieves results) team so that the plant could meet oSHa’s stringent requirements for a Vpp certification.

6 The Baytown Sun

1968This photo, taken in 1968, is one of the earliest aerial views of the plant. At this time, three units were in operation: the original 1591 ethylene and utilities unit, the 1791 normal alpha olefins unit; and the 1792 low density polyethylene unit.

1977This 1977 aerial photo

shows how much Cedar Bayou grew in a decade. The 1792 low

density polyethylene unit was expanded several

times through 1974. Its capacity almost

doubled by the addition of two new reactor lines

in 1976. The plant’s ethylene capacity more

than tripled in 1977 with the start of 1592, a new, world-scale olefins

facility.

2011This photo,

taken in 2011, shows eight

process units and 1,400

acres before the next big

expansion in 2013.

1990By 1990, the year this photo was taken, the

Cedar Bayou plant was under construction

once again as Chevron Corp. built an additional polyethylene

unit 1796 on the northwest side.

�Pa

stPr

esen

t �

1981This aerial photo taken in 1981 is looking to the west. It shows the plant’s second ethylene unit 1592 to the south, replacing the original ethylene unit that opened the plant in 1963, and the olefins units in the middle. To the north is the original polyethylene unit 1792.

Soon after sunrise on October 18, 1994, the normally plac-id Cedar Bayou – the plant’s

namesake waterway – overflowed and flooded much of Baytown. No one was hit worse than the Cedar Bayou plant.

In just over two days, 30 inches of rain fell on the bayou’s watershed. When the rain runoff began spilling into the plant’s electrical substation, the facility lost all outside electri-cal power forcing operators to shut down most process units. Employees watched in disbelief as temporary bar-riers failed and control rooms, ware-houses, and offices were submerged. In a newspaper interview shortly after, then-plant manager Larry Lucchesi said it was the worst disaster to strike the plant in its 32 years.

“It was a real disaster. Everything was floating around in the water and the water was moving the wrong direc-tion. It wasn’t going to Cedar Bayou it was coming from Cedar Bayou into our plant. Everything was floating from the bayou into our plant,” said Michael Keithly, Project Controls and Engi-neering Services Team Leader.

With the ever-rising floodwaters, workers raced nightfall to elevate electronic equipment and records above the water’s reach. By the time the flood finally crested early the next day, only the plant’s linear low-densi-ty polyethylene and normal alpha ole-fins units stood above the water line, having been recently added and built on higher ground. The acetylene black unit was spared from the onslaught by an elevated railroad track.

Most units, however, lay three to six feet under water, and at off-site areas, the water was even deeper. More than 50 vehicles in the main parking lot were covered by water, and the main entrance was impassable.

Soaked workers waded through the currents, securing equipment and dis-

placing volatile gas-

es in the process lines, while manag-ers, supervisors and safety specialists organized an emergency command post to manage the growing crisis.

“We actually moved operations and our emergency operations center to a place in the plant we called the hill because that was the only place that was not under water during the 1994 flood,” said Terry Boyett, Fire and Safety Specialist.

Many workers stayed in the post, which was filled with cots and stock-piles of emergency rations, recalled then-operations manager Jim Lomax.

“Our first priority was to take care of people,” Lomax said. “We wanted to make sure everyone was safe.”

Communication was minimal at best

with two-way radios used within the plant, and one cellular phone as the only outside link. Plans formed quick-ly for the assessment of the damage, removal of debris, and repairs and re-placement of equipment.

Cedar Bayou was to be up and run-ning as quickly as possible. After the waters began to recede on Oct. 20, an-other kind of flood began – a flood of equipment. Countless generators, light

p l a n t s , cherry pickers,

cranes and fork trucks poured into the plant. Tank trucks ran daily, bringing in up to 8,000 gallons of diesel fuel to power the machinery.

“We were working sixteen days in a row, sixteen hours a day,” said Steve Goulder, Instrumentation Technician. “They even brought in psychiatrists to assess how we were handling all the work, all the stress.”

The hectic pace continued with all hands on deck. Em-ployees worked around the

clock for eight weeks straight to get the Cedar Bayou plant back. It was done in record time. The success of the Cedar Bayou plant has always re-lied on the men and women who work there. They are known for rolling up their sleeves and pulling together in the face of challenges.

“My first thought is that there were at least a hundred heroes,” said Luc-chesi. “If you can see anything good in a disaster like this, it was the focus. Everyone was told to focus on one thing and one thing only: get the plant up and running. And we did.”

The Baytown Sun 7

The Great Flood of 1994The biggest challenge

Cedar Bayou faced

Above: Vacuum trucks worked around the clock for eight weeks to remove flood waters from the plant.

Employees don raincoats as they rush to keep equipment dry.

Flood waters covered I-10 and the frontage road in front of the Cedar Bayou Plant.

8 The Baytown Sun

The new millenniumThe fifth plant manager at Ce-

dar Bayou was Rick Roberts. His tenure was short from 1999 to 2000 because he was asked to lead the manufacturing division of a new company called Chev-ron Phillips Chemical Co.

In 2000, Chevron Corp. invest-ed in a 50-50 joint venture with Phillips Petroleum, later known

as Phillips 66. In this joint ven-ture, Chevron Corp. moved most of its petrochemical operations into The Woodlands-based com-pany, including the Cedar Bayou plant. Roberts was named senior vice president of manufactur-ing of the newly formed Chev-ron Phillips Chemical and Greg Hanggi the new Cedar Bayou plant manager.

Hanggi served from 2000 to 2004 and was initially the op-erations manager at the Cedar

Bayou plant. During his time at Cedar Bayou, Hanggi imple-mented the plant’s Tenets of Op-erations, a list of 10 principles employees abide by to run the plant safely and environmen-tally. Those tenets are still fol-lowed today. Much of the land surrounding the Cedar Bayou plant was purchased by Chevron Phillips Chemical, expanding the Cedar Bayou plant to 1,400 acres. Hanggi said it was main-ly a natural buffer between the plant and residential near neigh-bors, but gave some insight into the plant’s future.

“There has been a good plan already established for Cedar Bayou. We want to attract new investment here. If we can work safely, productively and environ-mentally with the community we can make ourselves attractive for future investments,” Hanggi told the Baytown Sun on September 25, 2000.

The Cedar Bayou plant soon became the largest of 34 man-ufacturing facilities owned by Chevron Phillips Chemical and a shining star on the Texas Gulf Coast. The Cedar Bayou plant consists of eight process units making ethylene, polyethylene, propylene, poly alpha olefins, normal alpha olefins, and other by-products. These raw mate-rials are used in making more than 70,000 consumer products, including plastic, fuel additives, waxes, and more.

Dan Coombs was the seventh plant manager at Cedar Bayou, serving from 2004 to 2008. He is well-known in Baytown for the same kind of community support that H.W. Blackwood started in 1963. Coombs is known by em-ployees as having a warm heart and unique friendliness. He is famous for writing every plant employee a personal Christmas card every year and displaying his nature photography. He left the Cedar Bayou plant to oversee one of Chevron Phillips Chem-ical’s business lines, and as of 2013, is the senior vice president

of manufacturing.

The nexT 50 yearsThe Cedar Bayou plant is vital

to Baytown and the Texas Gulf Coast area. Today, the plant em-ploys 750 people with approx-imately 500 nested contractors. Employees continue to serve Baytown in numerous communi-ty events, including being a Part-ner in Education to Crockett El-ementary for 25 years, cleaning parks and roadways during the annual city of Baytown’s Trash-off, and sponsoring scholarship and workforce development op-portunities for Lee College stu-dents.

Van Long is the current plant manager at Cedar Bayou since

2008. He has been instrumental in prepping the 1,400-acre site for the largest expansion Ce-dar Bayou has seen since 1975. Chevron Phillips Chemical is on track to build a new ethylene unit at the Cedar Bayou plant that, much like its predecessor, will be capable of increasing the plant’s production capacity. In addition, a 1-Hexene unit is un-der construction capable of pro-ducing 551 million pounds per year and a 20 percent increase in the plant’s normal alpha olefins production in underway.

“From its humble beginnings on the outside of town to becom-ing one of the premier chemical plants in the world, the Cedar Bayou plant has a history of excellence. Being a part of this

plant is the greatest opportunity of my career and has allowed me to work with the greatest group of people,” said Long.

The new expansion is expect-ed to create an additional 200 long-term jobs at Cedar Bayou from 2013 to 2017 with as many as 4,000 temporary construction workers building the units.

History is certainly repeating itself. Dr. Alexander Lewis Jr. of Gulf Oil Corp. first promised Baytown in 1962 that the Cedar Bayou plant would be a “vast complex of interrelated indus-trial facilities.” He could have never imagined the plant would grow into the powerhouse it is today, giving Baytown 50 years of excellence.

Chevron Phillips Chemical works close-ly with more than 500 nested contrac-tors at the Cedar Bayou plant. Pictured is Roy Watson, Training Supervisor, and a contractor employee examining a gasket.

Chevron Phillips Chemical - 2000 to Present

The plant gets a new sign on the I-10 frontage road after becoming Chevron Phillips Chemcal.

Cedar Bayou Plant

thenext

50Years

Through it all, an attitude that has

always existed at the Cedar Bayou plant has

been one of pride.

We are proud of our company and its commitment to

excellence.

We are proud of our plant and its ability to adapt and grow

while maintaining a positive role in the

environment and our community.

Most of all, we are proud of our

employees.

This is part two of a two-part series.

The first part was published on January 26, 2014.

Another expansion project at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown is nearing completion. Starting in 2012, the company began building the world’s largest on-purpose 1-hexene plant on its already sprawling complex. Two years later, construction is almost complete and the company is anticipating start-up during the first half of 2014.

“1-hexene is a critical component used in the manufacture of polyethylene, a plastic resin commonly converted into

film, pipe, detergent bottles, and food and beverage c o n t a i n e r s . Global demand is on the rise, and once this project is complete, Cedar Bayou will be the largest supplier in the world,” said R. Kim Perry, Chevron Phillips Chemical 1-hexene project manager.

A project of this scale requires a lot of manpower, and as such Chevron Phillips Chemical created 14 long-term jobs and over 1,000 temporary construction jobs. One

of those new hires was Perry Cessna. Cessna grew up in the petrochemical industry. His grandfather worked for a large oil and gas company and his father worked for a small petrochemical company in his hometown of Hardin, Texas.

Cessna joined Chevron Phillips Chemical two years ago and has spent the last year working directly on the 1-hexene expansion project in a unique training program for new operators. Typically, new operators undergo extensive training on simulator consoles within their assigned units. They have standard operating procedures to refer to, veteran co-workers to guide them, and an actual unit to walk through and learn from. However, since the 1-hexene unit is

a brand new plant, following the standard protocol wasn’t feasible.

Instead, Cessna and seven other co-workers spent half their day working through basic operations with piping and instrumentation diagrams and a 3-D model of the 1-hexene unit, and the second half of their day observing the piping and instrumentation on the physical unit as it is being built.

“It’s actually a more effective training program because they are getting to see a unit built from the ground up,” said Rick Hadley, Chevron Phillips Chemical operations specialist with the 1-hexene group. “It’s like buying a complete house versus watching one be built. When you build a house you can see everything that goes into it from the foundation to the overall structure.”

Cessna explained, “I am extremely fortunate to be part of the 1-hexene startup team. To be able to watch each valve, pipe, vessel, and piece of equipment installed is an invaluable learning experience. We’ve had the opportunity to sit down and ask the design team questions and learn exactly how the process works. Each member of the operations team is diverse. We all brought experience and ideas from other companies and industries. We were able to learn from each other and help one another become fully immersed in every aspect of the 1-hexene unit.”

With any Chevron Phillips Chemical construction project, safety is always a top priority. “To date, the 1-hexene project has worked over one million man hours without an OSHA recordable,” said Perry.

“One of the reasons that I enjoy working at Chevron Phillips Chemical is its safety commitment. Many companies talk about having a safety culture, but here at Cedar Bayou each employee truly believes in and practices safety in each task, every day,” said Cessna.

Being part of a team that is responsible for building a multi-million-dollar plant from the ground up fosters camaraderie. “Each member of the startup team has a sense of ownership, pride and commitment to see this unit succeed that is hard to describe in words. I am proud to call each member of the startup team family,” said Cessna.

Partnering for 50 years to advance the common good

Saluting past community campaign chairsCharley Lenderman, 1986-87Wilton Pate, 1994-95Rod Conerly, 1999-2000Dan Coombs, 2005-2006

Also saluting+ Employee donors to annual United Way campaign

+ Annual corporate gift+ United Way board members

+ Allocations Committee volunteers+ United Way Day of Caring volunteers

2 The Baytown Sun Sunday, March 2, 2014

■ Operators build camaraderie while training on new plant

World’s largest 1-Hexene plant nears spring finish line

Chevron Phillips Chemical is building the world’s largest

on-purpose 1-hexene plant at its Cedar

Bayou facility in Baytown. The

1-hexene plant will be capable of producing up to 551,000,000

pounds per year. The plant is

anticipated to start up mid-2014.

The 1-hexene plant’s first team of operators and specialists are (back row, from

left) Rick Hadley, Sean McLaughlin, Kenneth Vaughan, Feliciano Morin, Jay Joiner,

Steven Blanchard, (front row, from left): Phil Hoener, Lou Hooks, Perry Cessna,

Travis Stevens, Wes Hutter, Terry Prothro. Not pictured are Todd Jackson,

Brad Goodman, and Will Baird.

Chevron Phillips Chemical hosted a ceremonial groundbreaking event for the

1-hexene plant on June 13, 2012. Commemorating the start of the new project was

(from left) W.A. Brookshire, S&B Constructors CEO; Jack Morman, Harris County

Commissioner Precinct. 2; Wayne Smith, State Representative; Tommy Williams,

State Senator; Stephen DonCarlos, city of Baytown Mayor; Van Long, Cedar Bayou

Plant Manager; Pete Cella, Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. President and CEO.

The Baytown Sun 3Sunday, March 2, 2014

A premier planned business and industrial park with15,000 acres designed for commercial and industrial use.

Congratulations to Chevron Phillips on 50 years.

CEDAR CROSSINGI N D U S T R I A L P A R K

Cedar CrossingTwo Allen Center1200 Smith St.#1260Houston, TX 77002(281) 822-2990

w w w . c e d a r c r o s s i n g t e x a s . c o m

■ American Cancer Society “Relay for Life”

■ Art League of Baytown■ Barbers Hill Education Foundation■ Barbers Hill Scholarship Association■ Baytown Chamber of Commerce■ Baytown Hispanic Chamber of

Commerce■ Baytown Nature Center■ Baytown Sun “Newspapers in

Education”■ Baytown Symphony Orchestra■ Baytown/West Chambers County

Economic Development Foundation ■ Bay Area Homeless Shelter■ Baytown YMCA■ Baytown Youth Fair and Rodeo

Association

■ City of Baytown “Mayor’s Summer Work Program”

■ City of Baytown Litter Abatement Program

■ Eddie V. Gray Wetlands Center “Summer Science Camp”

■ GCCISD Education Foundation■ Habitat for Humanity■ Lee College Foundation■ Partners in Education with Crockett

Elementary and Goose Creek Memorial High School

■ Project Graduation ■ Rotary Club of Baytown “Shrimp and

Catfish Festival”■ United Way■ West Chambers County Chamber of

Commerce

Beyond the fence line

The Cedar Bayou plant donated 300 backpacks to the Texas Depart-

ment of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) for blind and

disabled children in the Baytown area. Several volunteers were on

hand to help give the backpacks away, including Lisa Zurita, Human

Resources business partner.Jerry Caplinger and Lola Robinson, Quality Control Specialists, create fun

laboratory experiments for Crockett Elementary students during National

Chemistry Week.

The philosophy at the Cedar Bayou plant is to always be a good neighbor. This standard was set years ago by the

first plant manager, H.W. Blackwood, and has been maintained for fifty years. Most of the people who work at the Cedar Bayou plant live in the surrounding Baytown/West Cham-bers community. These employees believe it is a privilege to operate in Baytown, not a right. And the Cedar Bayou plant is able to live up to this belief year after year by working safely, be-ing environmentally sensitive, and giving back to the community that supports it.

Here are just a few organizations that the plant and its employees support annually:

Lesli Trahan, a safety facilitator, and her daughter Mad-ison help plant a tree at the Pecan Village Apartments during the United Way Day of Caring.

The Cedar Bayou plant and Crockett Elementary celebrated 25 years as partners in education in 2012-2013 school year. The students marked the event by forming a human “25” in the playground.

Employees and contractors at the Cedar Bayou plant

donated more than 700 food items to

Communities In Schools, a nonprofit

that assists disadvantaged

families in the Goose Creek school district.

The donations fed five Baytown families

on Thanksgiving in 2013. Pictured (from left): Shea Robinson,

Corey Brazenec, Scott Clary, Andrew Cousins, and Ashley

Leitner.

Chevron Phillips Chemical is ex-panding its operations along the U.S. Gulf Coast and bringing

with it more than 400 long-term jobs and 10,000 engineering and construction jobs over the next three years. Fifty percent of those jobs will be in Baytown. Hiring has already begun for multiple positions and the company expects to add over 100 new full-time permanent employees in 2013 and 2014.

The U.S. Gulf Coast (USGC) Petro-chemicals Project includes a world-scale ethane cracker, capable of producing 3.3 billion pound per year of ethylene, at the Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown and polyethylene facilities to be built in Old Ocean, Texas with a total capacity of 2.2 billion pounds.

At Cedar Bayou, site preparations are in progress: buildings have been demol-ished while parking lots and personnel have been relocated. Critical equipment for the project has been ordered, expan-sion of the supporting infrastructure has commenced and the company has ex-ecuted a contract for the fabrication of the rail cars needed to supply product to customers. Chevron Phillips Chemical anticipates construction will commence second quarter 2014.

In addition to prepping the Baytown facility, Chevron Phillips Chemical worked with the Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner’s Office and the city of Baytown to establish a Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) to improve Sjolander Road. Through the TIRZ, Chevron Phillips Chemical provided $5.6 million dollars in funding to widen Sjolander Road from a two-lane asphalt road to a four-lane concrete road with a continuous center turn lane.

“During the peak of construction, we anticipate anywhere from 4,000 – 7,000 contractors will be onsite each day. Ex-panding and improving Sjolander Road

will help us minimize the construction traffic’s impact on the surrounding com-munity,” said Steven T. Prusak, Chevron Phillips Chemical’s USGC Petrochemi-cals Project co-director.

“Chevron Phillips Chemical’s in-vestment in the transportation system provides for increased transportation efficiencies in the surrounding areas,” explained Harris County Commissioner Jack Morman. “The project assists in al-leviating traffic congestion and improv-ing accessibility in the area. Not only will these improvements assist mobility in the area during the ethylene expansion project, but will also serve transportation needs in the future.”

Along with the investment in road construction, Chevron Phillips Chem-ical Company also amended its Indus-trial District Agreement with the city of Baytown to fund the hiring of six new full-time police officers and the purchase of three new police vehicles over the next four years. This $1.8 million investment is a joint effort with the city to mitigate the potential impact future construction activities might have on the local com-munity.

“Shale resource development has pro-vided us an enormous opportunity to grow at a significant pace and generate new jobs. In doing this, we are dedicat-ed to keeping the Baytown community at pace with this boom so that everyone can enjoy the benefits,” said Van Long, plant manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility.

The benefits of Chevron Phillips Chem-ical’s USGC Petrochemicals Project can be felt all across the City of Baytown. “The economic impact is significant, in direct, indirect and induced benefits in job creation, tax valuation and economic development. Construction investment, ongoing operations, employment and related multipliers will cascade through both local and regional economies, re-sulting in substantial economic growth,” said B. J. Simon, Associate Executive Di-rector, Baytown-West Chambers County Economic Development Foundation.

4 The Baytown Sun Sunday, March 2, 2014

■ New ethane cracker brings jobs and community investments

Chevron Phillips Chemical’s long-term investment in Baytown

Cedar Bayou Plant Manager Van Long, second from left, speaks on a panel during the 2013 Petrochemical and Maritime Outlook Conference hosted by the Economic Alliance Houston Port Region. Discussions revolved around the petrochemical industry’s expansion plans in response to shale gas development.

Pictured is the existing ethylene unit at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou plant, which can produce up to 1.8 billion pounds per year. The new ethane cracker will be larger, capable of producing up to 3.3 billion pounds per year.

A widened Sjolander Road was officially opened to the public with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on

Dec. 4, 2013. This project was a collaborative effort between Harris County, the city of Baytown, and

Chevron Phillips Chemical. Pictured (from left): Baytown city councilman Bob Hoskins, Cedar Bayou

Plant Manager Van Long, Harris County Commissioner Precinct 2 Jack Morman, city of Baytown

Mayor Stephen DonCarlos, and Baytown Chamber of Commerce Chairman David Daspit.

The Baytown Sun 5Sunday, March 2, 2014

Saluting Chevron Phillips

as a Responsible Caremanufacturer

committed to our community for 50 years

®

After spending 16 years behind the wheel of a big rig, Mont Belvieu resident Doug Freeman looked out his windshield at what was quickly becoming a dead-end road. But at 40 years old, with a wife and five children, he didn’t have the luxury of changing careers and starting over in an entry-level position.

“Being a truck driver, I wasn’t going to have the kind of retirement I wanted. I needed something more stable, a career that would provide for me and my fami-ly,” said Freeman.

A CNN story about Lee College’s Pro-cess Technology Program caught Free-man’s eye, as did the chemical industry’s expansion plans in Baytown. Freeman took a leap of faith, parked his rig perma-nently and enrolled in Lee College’s two-year degree program.

Thanks to a $75,000 donation from Chevron Phillips Chemical to Lee Col-lege, many local residents will be able to do the same. Of the $75,000 donation, $10,000 has been used for classroom en-hancements and the purchase of lab equip-ment. The remaining $65,000 was put into an endowment for scholarships that pays for 50 percent of a student’s tuition and books.

“The Chevron Phillips Chemical Work-force Development Scholarship Program was established to assist with what is rap-idly becoming a shortage of trained pet-rochemical workers along the U.S. Gulf Coast,” explained Van Long, plant manag-er at Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility in Baytown.

The scholarship is open to Lee College students working toward a two-year de-gree in Process Technology, Instrumenta-tion Technology or Electrical Technology. It is also available to high school students enrolled in dual-credit programs. All three degree programs are designed to prepare high school graduates and skilled profes-sionals seeking a job change for technical jobs in the petrochemical industry.

“As a community college, we have the responsibility of ensuring our educational programs prepare students for jobs here, within our local community. With the gen-erous support offered through this schol-arship, we are able to provide students with the tools, support, and most impor-tantly, the opportunity to be successful in both the classroom and the workforce,” said Dr. Dennis Brown, President at Lee College.

In addition to helping the community at large, the scholarship program is a re-cruiting tool for Chevron Phillips Chem-ical’s Cedar Bayou facility. It provides a pipeline of potential employees to help fill the workforce needs created by numerous local expansion projects.

Each scholarship recipient is paired with an experienced Chevron Phillips Chemi-cal employee mentor. Joseph Poole, one of the first students awarded a scholarship, was matched with David DeWitt, a Mate-rials Handling Operator with 22 years of experience.

It was through DeWitt that Poole learned about the company’s Co-Op pro-gram. Similar to an operator internship, Co-Ops are highly coveted, paid positions that give second-year students 15 weeks of practical, hands-on experience working under the guidance of experienced Oper-ators. The company gets a chance to as-sess a student’s knowledge and the student gains the opportunity to see if working in a plant environment is truly a good fit for them.

“The way Chevron Phillips Chemical conducted the internship program was productive because it enabled me to be a qualified operator by the end of the pro-gram,” said Poole. “Lee College’s Process Technology program definitely prepared me for working in the plant, but the schol-arship and mentoring program from Chev-ron Phillips Chemical was a large contrib-utor to my overall success.”

Both Doug Freeman and Joseph Poole applied for full-time operator positions af-ter completing their Co-op programs, and today both are successful operators at Ce-dar Bayou’s 1792 polyethylene unit.

“The Co-Op Program was a great way for me to get my foot in the door. In fact, I made more money as a Chevron Phillips Chemical intern than I ever did as truck driver,” said Freeman.

Chevron Phillips Chemical’s invest-ment in the education of Baytown and West Chambers County residents extends much deeper than just the scholarship.

“Cedar Bayou has been a proud mem-ber of the Greater Baytown area for near-ly 50 years. We have established a posi-tive, collaborative relationship with this community,” said Long. “Spurred by the development of shale gas in the U.S., Chevron Phillips Chemical is contribut-ing to the largest renaissance this indus-try has seen in decades. The development of Baytown’s workforce is critical to our long-term success. It is our desire that this scholarship serve as a catalyst for individ-ual, community and corporate growth.”

■ Endowment designed to train future petrochemical workforce

Joseph Poole was one of the first recipients of the Chevron Phillips Chemical Workforce

Development Scholarship established at Lee College in 2012 for process technology

students. Poole was hired as a Cedar Bayou plant operator after graduation in 2013.

Plant Manager Van Long signed a ceremonial check to Lee College in the amount of

$75,000 in 2012. The funds were used to purchase laboratory equipment and to set-up

a scholarship fund for students studying process technology, instrumentation technol-

ogy, and electrical technology.

Laramie Valverde, a process operator,

mentors Lee College student Christina

Garcia, a recipient of the Chevron Phillips

Workforce Development Scholarship program

studying to be a process operator.

Chevron Phillips Chemical donates $75,000 to Lee

College for scholarships and classroom equipment

6 The Baytown Sun Sunday, March 2, 2014

50th Anniversary

MISSION – � e Baytown Chamber of Commerce is a business organization created to provide the leadership to enhance economic growth and a better quality of life for the Baytown Area.

1300 Rollingbrook, Suite 400 www.baytownchamber.com ~ e-mail: info@baytownchamber.com

BAYTOWN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE“Your Business Is Our Business”

Tracey S. WheelerPresident & CEO

David DaspitTexas First Bank &

Chairman of the Board

281-422-8359

Baytown Chamber

A city on the move...e

Congratulates

on their

OSHA names Cedar Bayou plant as having most VPP-certified companies at one site in U.S.

Cedar Bayou’s Emergency Response Team members who competed in the 2013 IRECA competition (from left): Kris Pollio, David Matthies, Kyle Hensley, John Hollaway, Alex Villarreal, Lou Hooks, and Ryan Nichter.

Emergency Rescue Team named World Champions

10 times

The Cedar Bayou plant’s Emergen-cy Response Team has represented Chevron Corp. and Chevron Phil-

lips Chemical at the International Rescue Emergency Care Association (IRECA) conference for the past 23 years. Com-peting against other petrochemical com-panies from across the country, the Ce-dar Bayou plant has placed first above all others 10 times in technical rescue and named World Champions.

The competition is designed to test the skills and capabilities of plant rescue teams to locate, treat and move people

to safety during emergency situations, much like firefighters or EMS personnel would do. In fact, all of the Cedar Bay-ou plant’s Emergency Response Team members are either trained firefighters or paramedics.

“The fire, rescue and medical teams want to be the best trained, least used tools at a plant. But be rest assured, if needed, they will selflessly give of them-selves to protect life and property,” said John Hollaway, Fire and Safety Spe-cialist at the Cedar Bayou plant and the team’s captain in 2013.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed in February 2014 that

Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility has the most Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) certified companies working at one site in the United States.

The Cedar Bayou facility and 11 of its contractors are VPP certified. The contractors include Brock Services LTD, Furmanite Technical Solutions, Jacobs Engineering Group Inc, Mobley Industrial Services Inc, Nalco Compa-

ny, QualSpec, S&B Engineers & Con-structors, SGS Petroleum Service Cor-poration, TechCorr USA, LLC, Veolia Environmental Services and Zachry In-dustrial Inc.

OSHA’s VPP recognizes employers in the private industry who have im-plemented effective safety and health management systems above and beyond federal regulations, while maintaining injury and illness rates below nation-al Bureau of Labor Statistics averages for their respective industries. Chevron Phillips Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facil-

ity is also a STAR site in the VPP pro-gram and voluntarily mentor onsite con-tractors into VPP certification.

“This is a prestigious honor for Chev-ron Phillips Chemical,” said Van Long, plant manager at Chevron Phillips

Chemical’s Cedar Bayou facility. “Hav-ing a facility with the most VPP-certi-fied companies in the nation is a true testament of our commitment to provide a safe work environment for both our employees and contractors.”

All of the VPP flags are displayed in front of the Cedar Bayou plant along the I-10

frontage road. Each time a new contractor is awarded VPP certification, the plant honors

that accomplishment by adding a new flag.

The Baytown Sun 7Sunday, March 2, 2014

Oct. 21, 2013marked the 50th anniver-sary of Chevron

Phillips Chemical Compa-ny’s Cedar Bayou plant in Baytown. Thus, Chevron Phillips hosted a birthday bash, complete with an 8-foot by 5-foot cake that could feed 1,000 people.

Also on hand were com-pany executives, former plant managers and em-

ployees, three of which were honored with Lega-cy Awards.

The Legacy Award is a special recognition the plant created just for the 50th anniversary cele-bration. Employees were asked to nominate their peers for this award – cur-rent or retired. Thirteen nominations were submit-ted and a panel of judges narrowed it down to the top three.

The Legacy Award winners are people their peers feel have made a lasting impression on the Cedar Bayou plant. They are people whose dedica-tion, passion, and unique ideas have forever left an impact. They have been visionaries, either by cre-ating a program, imple-menting a new idea, cre-ating change, or simply performing exceptional work. The work they have done will affect Cedar Bayou and its employees for years to come.

It is because of the leg-acy they have left behind that the next generation workforce will be suc-cessful in the future.

Russ ClintonThe first Legacy winner

is man who is described as innovative and creative. He is always thinking outside the box. He is an inventor and holds seven

patents for analyzer and instrumentation equip-ment he developed at the Cedar Bayou plant.

Clinton is credited with creating and supervising the first advanced process control group, which was a significant technological leap. Before process con-trols, a unit’s reliability was up and down on any given day. By creating a process control, operators are able to maintain opti-mum productivity and sta-bility in production.

lesla DanielsThe second Legacy

winner is a woman who is known as the “care taker” of the plant because of the careful consideration and due diligence she gives to environmental efforts.

Daniels started out as an operator and moved into the Environmental Department. She oversees how Cedar Bayou and its employees manage waste, and does so with passion, enthusiasm, and complete dedication – not only for the plant, but for the bet-terment of the community and the environment.

Recycling efforts sig-nificantly increased throughout the facility when she joined the En-vironmental Department. Daniels has embraced the environmental challeng-es presented to her, often going above and beyond what is expected to fulfill

a higher obligation to the community.

JeRRy Hale anD BelinDa Ralston

The third Legacy win-ner is a two-person team. They are so well known as a team that people say both of their names even when just referring to one of them.

Jerry Hale and Belinda Ralston are responsible for the modern safety culture practiced at Cedar Bayou. The two of them worked together for 15 years to reduce accidents and inju-ry rates. Hale and Ralston led the first S.T.A.R. team – Safety Together Achieves Results. There are 66 S.T.A.R Teams at Cedar Bayou with leaders on every shift, in every unit, maintenance shop, or work group.

Hale and Ralston are champions of safety and personally care that each and every employee goes home safely at the end of the day. Most of the training employees are required to go through today was developed by this team, and they have been the driving force be-hind Cedar Bayou’s VPP STAR status.

Many employees have looked to Hale and Ralston as leaders in the plant. They are an inspira-tion to all and the legacy they have left behind on safety will forever be a part of the Cedar Bayou

plant.

Plant celebrates 50-year history

During the 50th anniversary celebration on Oct. 21, 2013, employees were treated to an 8-by-5-foot cake and visited by former plant managers. From left, Pete Cella, president and CEO of Chevron Phillips Chemical; Dan Coombs, plant manager from 1995 to 1999; John Strausser, plant manager from 1971 to 1974; Ruth Strausser; Larry Lucchesi, plant manager from 1974 to 1995; Rick Roberts, plant manager from 1999 to 2000; and Van Long, current plant manager since 2008.

lesla DanielsRuss Clinton

JeRRy Hale BelinDa Ralston

Chevron Phillips Chemical’s President and CEO Pete Cella hands a gift to John Strausser, Cedar Bayou’s second plant manager, in recognition of his service to the facility.

8 The Baytown Sun Sunday, March 2, 2014

Congratulations

50th

Anniversary

on your

Congratulates

on their 50th Anniversary

Leaving a Legacy in the Community

In March 2013, city of Baytown employee Austin Little looked at a pile of dirt

that would soon be the construc-tion site of his new home. As that year’s recipient of a Habitat for

Humanity house in Baytown, emotions rushed through him. Little is a single parent and first-time homeowner.

“I thank God for it,” said

Little. “I’m overwhelmed and appreciative. It’s the first house I’ll ever own.”

Little and his two sons, 18 and 21 years old, was the second family to benefit from a Chevron Phillips Chemical-spon-

sored house. The first was built in Montgomery County and the second is Little’s home located at 309 Alva Street near the Cedar Bayou plant. Chevron Phillips Chemical chose Baytown as the site of their second Habitat for Humanity project in honor of the Cedar Bay-ou plant’s 50th anniver-sary.

To date, Chevron Phillips Chemical has donated $120,000 and countless volunteer hours toward building Habitat for Humanity homes in areas where the company operates manufac-turing facilities. More than 100 employees and contractors from the Cedar Bayou plant person-ally worked on the Little house over an 11-month period. The house was finished in record time and remains the fastest a Habitat home has been con-structed in Baytown.

“It’s important for us to give back to the communities that host us,” said Chevron Phillips Chemical president and CEO Pete Cella. “We want to be a

g o o d neighbor and add value to the communities in which we op-erate. We’re honored to have neighborhoods invite us in to be part of this process.”

On Dec. 11, 2013, Chevron Phillips Chemical and Habitat for Humanity officially handed over the keys to the Little home just in time for Christmas.

“We are very happy to make this a lasting legacy of the Chev-ron Phillips organization. Over a hundred of our employees and contractors spent time and worked on this project,” said Plant Manager Van Long.

■ Chevron Phillips builds Habitat home in honor of plant’s 50th anniversary

More than 100 Cedar Bayou plant employees and contractors

helped build the Habitat house in 2013. Pictured (from left): Keith

Gaedchens, Robert Betancourth, Heather Kfoury, Rose Villarreal, Alex Villarreal, Janet Dyer, and

Hubert Gonzalez

Baytown Sun photo/Albert Villegas

Baytown resident Austin Little raises his hand to show the key to his new home

that he and his sons, Anthony Little, left, and Tre’maine Little will be living in.

Habitat for Humanity presented the house to the family that Chevron Phillips

took the lead in constructing nine months ago.

Employees assist the Little family in erecting the frame of their Habitat

house in 2013.

This project marks the first time a single

private donor has solely sponsored a Habitat for Humanity house in the

Baytown community.