Gary Williams Energy
Gary-Williams Energy Corporation, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is an independent oil and gas company with approximately 300 employees. Gary-Williams owns the Wynnewood Refining Company in Oklahoma and operates a marketing office based in Oklahoma City. Gary-Williams Energy is primarily engaged in refining and wholesale marketing.
Company History
Gary-Williams Energy got its start in the 1950s as a small exploration company. It made its first major discovery in 1967 at Belle Creek in Montana, and the company purchased the Wynnewood Refinery in 1995. The refinery is now the company's most important asset, and it processes some 70,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The refinery's main products include gasoline, military jet fuel, diesel fuel, asphalt and solvents.
In the News
In May of 2006, a major explosion took place at Wynnewood Refinery. The explosion occurred in an alkylation unit at the factory. There were no deaths or injuries reported.
In April of 2007, the Wynnewood Refinery was the site of a major fire. The fire effectively shut down all operations at the plant, and smoke was visible at a distance of 25 miles.
In 2008, the company became embroiled in a scandal involving a government agency. Gary-Williams was accused of fronting thousands of inappropriate dollars in the form of meals, drinks, and golf outings.
Asbestos in the Gary-Williams Wynnewood Refining Company
In most of the 20th century, in cases where combustion or extreme temperature was a danger, various forms of asbestos were chosen as an insulator. Materials that contained asbestos, therefore, were commonly utilized in the building of oil refineries such as the Gary-Williams Wynnewood Refining Company in Oklahoma. One of the other properties of various types of asbestos is that they are unaffected by chemical reactions. Given the type of work that goes on at oil refineries, asbestos, therefore, was not only used in plant structures, but also in counter tops, lab equipment and safety clothes. And though the asbestos worked well in safeguarding against the spread of fire and in protecting people and equipment from excessive heat, the mineral also exposed people who used it or worked around it to significant health risks.
Most of the asbestos was of the amosite variety. When mixed with chrysotile, which is resistant to heat and bases but not as resistant to acids, the amphibole amosite creates products that are especially good at protecting against corrosive substances. This amosite, in the form of asbestos-containing transite, was utilized in laboratories, refineries and chemical plants across the United States for decades before it was banned as a construction material in the 1970s.
Like cement, asbestos transite could be laminated, molded into working surfaces and sprayed onto ductwork and pipes. For the most part, new items formed from transite were innocuous because the asbestos particles were encapsulated in the transite. However, as transite with asbestos containing material (ACM) aged, it became prone to crumbling, which enabled the lethal, tiny particles to flake off into the air. In other words, such asbestos is friable, a term that is used to describe materials that are easily pulverized. The insulation lining of laboratory kilns also almost always were constructed with friable asbestos.
The Problem with Friable Asbestos
Asbestos fibers, when they are friable, are readily dispersed in the atmosphere. Medical conditions such as asbestosis can result from the inhalation of asbestos. In addition, exposure to asbestos has been shown to be the primary causal factor of pleural mesothelioma, an unusual and often lethal disease affecting the mesothelium, the tissue that lies between the lungs and the chest cavity. Swallowing asbestos fibers, which is easy to do when those microscopic fibers float in the air and settle on food or in beverages, can lead to peritoneal or pericardial mesothelioma.
Because scientific inquiry resulted in more knowledge of asbestos' serious effects on human health, men and women today enjoy the protection of strict rules controlling the use of asbestos. When plants such as the Gary-Williams Wynnewood Refining Company in Oklahoma were built, however, asbestos was more common. Any asbestos remaining from that time can yet pose danger if people are not careful during demolition projects.
The Lurking Danger of Asbestos
As opposed to most job-related injuries, which are easily observed and known about soon after the causing incident, asbestos-related illnesses can take many, many years to manifest. The symptoms of asbestos-related diseases - chronic coughing and dyspnea - can easily be confused with the symptoms of other conditions. Men and women who worked at or spent much time around plants such as the Gary-Williams Wynnewood Refining Company in Oklahoma therefore should ask their physicians for a mesothelioma treatment guide. In addition, spouses of these people are also at risk, because unless strict safety measures, like using workplace-only clothing and on-site showers, were in place, it was all too easy for people to bring home asbestos fibers on themselves or their clothes. Researchers may develop a mesothelioma cure one day but for now only palliative treatments exist.
Sources
Denver Post - Denver business stuck in scandal
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_10431608
Gary-Williams Energy - About Us
http://www.gwec.com/
Grist - Oil Refineries are full of asbestos, not just carbon
http://www.grist.org/article/it-was-asbestos-times-it-was-the-worst-of-times
Osint - Blast hits Gary-Williams refinery
http://www.mail-archive.com/osint@yahoogroups.com/msg21412.html
Reuters - Raging fire keeps Oklahoma refinery shut
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2835140420070428
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) - Laboratories and Shops
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/ASB/acmimages3.html
University of Wisconsin - Asbestos Disposal
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/EHSRM/HAZEXCEPTIONS/a.html
