New Sunoco CEO Brian MacDonald is on something of a goodwill tour.
He’s met with local officials as he tries to smooth all the feathers ruffled by his predecessor, Lyn Elsenhans. Under her reign, Sunoco made it clear they wanted out of the money-losing refining business, and Elsenhans proved ruthless in carrying out her mission.
She announced the company would seek buyers for both its Marcus Hook and South Philadelphia refineries, and if none came forward they would close the doors and padlock the gates behind them on the way out. The iconic Hook facility was supposed to remain active for a few months, but the grim numbers changed that prognosis. It has now been shut down and its workforce largely laid off. The South Philly refinery is still operating, but the company has indicated that will change this summer.
The fallout from all this has landed squarely in MacDonald’s lap. He’s been meeting with local officials, as well as elected leaders in Washington.
Yesterday Delaware County Council met in the shadow of the refinery in Marcus Hook to announce the would commission a $100,000 study to determine the best possible uses for the site. You can read about it here.
That does not sound terribly optimistic about the potential for its future as a refinery, which would save most of the jobs being lost in this cutback.
Sunoco has indicated that although they have talked with as many as 150 suitors, they do not have a single viable bid for the Marcus Hook facility.
The union has their doubts about just how committed the company is in terms of seeking a buyer and just how much interest there is in the site.
One of the things that is raising eyebrows is one of those meetings MacDonald had, specifically a sitdown with Marcus Hook borough officials in which he told them the company was not especially thrilled about a possible zoning change that would severely limit what the company can do at the site in the future.
Since MacDonald is looking to build a little goodwill, I want to do our part since we’ve covered this story so extensively.
Hence, this is an open invitation to the Sunoco boss to join us for our ‘Live From the Newsroom’ show this coming Wednesday. We air it live at 7 p.m. Mr. MacDonald, if you can’t come here we’d be more than happy to come to you. If you’d like to meet down in Marcus Hook or with some union officials at the hall in Linwood, I’m quite sure we could work that out as well.
I would love to give you an opportunity to talk candidly to myself and my columnist, Gil Spencer, about the company’s plans, why it is taking the course that it is, and what lies ahead.
I’d love to hear from either you or your spokesmen, Tom Golembeski or Joe McGinn. I hope they're not tired of hearing from us. They probably have a direct line to our business writer, Kathleen Carey, who has been on this story from Day 1.
I can be reached at 610-622-8818, or email me at editor@delcotimes.com.
What do you say? See you Wednesday at 7? I await your reply.
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