PLAQUEMINES PARISH, La. — There is anger and uncertainty in Plaquemines Parish, one day after the largest private employer in the area announced it plans to close next year.
“After yesterday, it was just kind of a gut punch,” Parish President Kirk Lepine said.
Lepine says the Phillips 66 Alliance Refinery shutdown will take a tremendous human toll on his community.
About 900 workers are now at risk of losing their jobs, just in time for the holidays.
“If you know anyone in Plaquemines Parish, they’ve had someone affiliated with Phillips 66, a brother a cousin, a dad, my brother is personally retired from Phillips 66,” Lepine said.
Balestra’s is a popular grocery store in Belle Chasse. Owner Joe Balestra says the refinery shutdown is sad for the employees and the Plaquemines business community.
“It’s going to hurt everybody to a certain extent,” Balestra said. “Everybody feels it. A lot of the people, they live here. This is where they shop, you know.”
The Alliance Refinery is also the largest taxpayer in the parish.
The shutdown is expected to cost the parish, public school district and the sheriff’s office millions of dollars in sales and property tax revenue.
“Their portion of our taxes; they are about 12 percent of our tax base,” Lepine said.
Phillips 66 plans to convert the facility into an oil storage terminal.
The 50-year-old refinery was severely damaged after several feet of water flooded it during Hurricane Ida in August.
Company officials said it was too expensive to repair and restart.
“Our decision was a difficult one, and we understand it has a profound impact on our employees, contractors and the broader Belle Chasse community,” said Greg Garland, Chairman and CEO of Phillips 66. “We will work to help them through this transition and support them as Alliance takes on a new role in our portfolio.”
It’s unclear what the staffing at the new storage terminal will be, but it is not expected to be on the same scale as the refinery.
“So many people are just going to be without jobs,” Balestra said. “It’s going to be something for them to overcome. A lot of them are my friends.”
A Phillips 66 spokesman said the company has no immediate plans to disassemble the oil refining equipment. That gives Plaquemines Parish leaders some hope that the refinery could someday reopen if the right buyer comes along.
Here’s a breakdown of the taxes Phillips 66 sends to local entities in Plaquemines.
The parish government gets about $1.5 million a year from the refinery.
The parish public school district gets more than $5 million in property and sales taxes.
The sheriff’s office gets close to $2 million.