United Steelworkers Local 10-234 President Denis Stephano announced today that the plant manager at the ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Pa., told union officials on Jan. 5 that if a serious buyer is not identified or the refinery is not sold by March 31, the facility will be demolished.

“This is the first time the company gave us this information,” Stephano said. “Our plant manager, Dave Erfert, also informed us that for the past 18 months he had been on a committee to determine the fate of the refinery and many options had been explored, including idling, closure and demolition.

“ConocoPhillips sends Mr. Erfert to attend the stakeholder meetings with union, community and elected officials. Why didn’t he notify the stakeholders months ago that demolition was one of the options the company was considering?” Stephano asked ... more