Minnesota Facts

Based in Wichita, Kan., Koch Industries, Inc. is one of the largest private companies in America according to Forbes magazine. It owns a diverse group of companies involved in refining and chemicals; process and pollution control equipment and technologies; minerals; fertilizers; polymers and fibers; commodity trading and services; forest and consumer products; and ranching. Koch companies have a presence in nearly 60 countries and employ about 67,000 people. Since 2003, Koch companies have invested more than $43 billion in acquisitions and other capital expenditures.

Companies in Minnesota
Flint Hills Resources, LLC, through its subsidiaries, is a leading refining and chemicals company. Its subsidiaries market products such as gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol, olefins, polymers and intermediate chemicals, as well as base oils and asphalt. A subsidiary has a refinery in Rosemount with a processing capacity of about 320,000 barrels per day. A $350 million project, completed in 2006, allowed the refinery to produce ultra low-sulfur diesel fuels and convert diesel fuel to gasoline to meet market demand. The refinery also manufactures asphalt, heating fuel and sulfur for fertilizer products. Another subsidiary has refined products and asphalt terminals that serve customers in Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.

Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. operates pipelines that deliver crude oil to Minnesota refineries, as well as refined fuels to the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota and the upper Midwest. One pipeline supplies a large percentage of the jet fuel used at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport.

Koch Nitrogen Company, LLC has two fertilizer terminals in Minnesota that provide fertilizer to customers in the upper Midwest. The company and its affiliates have the capability to manufacture, market and distribute more than 13 million metric tons of fertilizer products annually.

The C. Reiss Coal Company is a leading supplier of coal used to generate power. The company has a dock located in Duluth.

Georgia-Pacific Wood Products LLC has a plant in Duluth that manufactures building supplies, as well as a warehouse in Marshall and a sales office in Minneapolis. Georgia-Pacific LLC, based in Atlanta, and its subsidiaries have approximately 300 manufacturing facilities across North America, South America and Europe, ranging from large pulp, paper and tissue operations to gypsum plants, box plants and building products operations. The company’s building products manufacturing business has long been among the United State's leading suppliers of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and large do-it-yourself warehouse retailers.

Safety and Environmental Commitment

Koch companies are committed to operating their businesses in a manner that protects the health and safety of their employees, the public and the environment. Koch companies’ safety performance is among the best in the industry, and Koch companies strive to protect the environment by reducing waste and increasing efficiency.

Flint Hills Resources’ terminals in Minnesota were among those recognized with the Platinum Safety Award from the International Liquid Terminals Association. The award recognizes member companies that have a strong commitment to continuous safety improvement. The terminals have also earned numerous awards from the Minnesota Safety Council and the National Safety Council.
Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend Refinery has received the Minnesota Conservation Award from Xcel Energy for saving 8.7 million kilowatt hours during 2006.
Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. received the 2010 Distinguished Award for Outstanding Safety and Environmental Performance from the American Petroleum Institute, its highest award. KPL’s safety record has also been recognized with API’s Occupational Safety Award and the National Safety Council’s Occupational Industry Leader Award, among many others. The company was named one of America’s Safest Companies by EHS Today magazine in 2008. In March 2011, employees reached 10 years, which equals nearly 7 million work hours, without a lost-time incident.
Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend Refinery earned the Minnesota Safety Council’s highest award, the Award of Honor, for exceptional safety accomplishments. The refinery has also earned the Gold and Merit safety awards from the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association for its safety record. In 2009, the refinery was certified as a MNSTAR worksite for the second time by the Minnesota Department of Labor, recognizing the company’s commitment to workplace safety. It has been a MNSTAR site since 2005.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has awarded Flint Hills Resources wastewater operational awards in 2011 and 2010 for outstanding wastewater treatment facility operation and management practices.
Flint Hills Resources has earned the Thoroughbred Chemical Safety Award from Norfolk Southern Corporation for safely transporting hazardous chemicals.
Koch Nitrogen Company has earned the Stewardship Award from Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company for three consecutive years and the Safe Handling Award from the Canadian National Railway Company.
Flint Hills Resources has emphasized refinery flaring reduction, which earned the company a Clean Air Award from the EPA in 2004. Between 1999 and 2004, the company’s Minnesota refinery reduced its emissions by 50 percent, and earned a Special Recognition Certificate for Clean Air Awards Program from the EPA in 2005.
Building upon its success in reducing flaring, Flint Hills Resources and the EPA completed a four-year collaborative effort to develop and share best practices aimed at reducing emissions caused by planned and unplanned process unit startups, shutdowns and malfunctions.

Community Commitment
Koch companies are committed to understanding the needs of the community, and participate in projects and activities that add value to their neighbors and improve the quality of life. Here are some examples:

Through the Georgia-Pacific Foundation, the company partners with many local and statewide organizations to improve the quality of life in communities where GP employees live and work. The GP Foundation focuses support in four key areas: education, enrichment of community, environment and entrepreneurship.

Flint Hills International Children's Festival at Ordway Center
In 2000, Flint Hills Resources and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts set out to create one of the country’s first international children’s festivals. Today, the Flint Hills International Children’s Festival is one of the best performing arts festivals of its kind not only in the United States, but in the world. The event has reached nearly 350,000 people and grows more popular every year, inspiring new generations of children from all across Minnesota.

Science Museum of Minnesota
As a premier sponsor of the Science Museum of Minnesota, Flint Hills Resources promotes science education and helps make science fun by sponsoring overnight camp-ins at the museum for children throughout Minnesota. Flint Hills “30 Schools in 30 Days” program with the Science Museum also brings hands-on science assemblies to area schools. The program has reached nearly 70,000 students over the past 13 years.

Pine Bend Bluffs Restoration
For more than ten years, Flint Hills Resources has partnered with Friends of the Mississippi River to enhance and restore more than 1,300 acres of natural areas on Flint Hills' property along the Mississippi River, which provides critical habitat for both resident and migratory animals. The site has received Wildlife Habitat Council certification and was nominated for WHC Corporate Habitat of the Year and Community Partner award in 2009. It has also earned the Minnesota Environmental Initiative Award for Natural Resource Protection, and has been designated as an area of outstanding biological diversity by the Minnesota Department of Resources.

Ducks Unlimited
Flint Hills Resources is a long-time supporter of Ducks Unlimited, recently donating $65,000 to restore and protect waterfowl and other wildlife habitat in Minnesota. During the past 16 years, Flint Hills Resources contributions have led to the preservation and managemt of more than 360,000 acres of wild rice on 116 lakes, many thousands of acres of wetlands, and other waterfowl habitat througout Minnesota. In 2009, the organization honored Flint Hills Resources with its Diamond Heritage Award for supporting its Living Lakes Initiative.

Project Green Fleet
Flint Hills Resources, along with other Minnesota businesses, government agencies, and non-profit organizations sponsor Project Green Fleet. The project installs pollution control equipment in Minnesota school buses. More than 130,000 students across Minnesota ride in cleaner buses because of the program. The project was recently recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a national model for improving air quality, and earned a Clean Air Excellence Award in the Community Action category, one of only two nationwide.

Emergency Preparedness
For more than 21 years, Flint Hills has provided regular fire training to our mutual aid partners in Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights, Hastings and Eagan, and for the volunteer fire departments along pipelines and for Minneapolis and St. Paul firefighters. Flint Hills also provides multi-faceted training center near the Pine Bend refinery designed for law enforcement tactical units, military personnel, and first responders. The facility is provided free to law enforcement agencies. More than 2,000 officers were trained at the facility in 2009 alone. A donation to the Marshall volunteer fire department will purchase five sets of new protective gear. Flint Hills Resources operates an asphalt plant near Marshall.

DARTS
Dakota Area Resources and Transportation for Seniors (DARTS) – Flint Hills sponsors a community bus and underwrites the organization’s intergenerational mentoring program which focuses on math, science and reading skills.

07/2011