Marathon Petrolum Company LLC
Marathon Oil Corporation contracted with Compass to assist in securing approvals for their "Marathon Refinery Heavy Oil Upgrade Project," in southwest Detroit, MI. This $1.9 billion project was slated to increase the refinery's heavy oil capacity, which translates into an additional one million gallons of fuel per day available to Midwest consumers. In addition, the expansion would increase the refinery workforce by 135 full-time employees. However, because the community historically has been an industrial and manufacturing hub, any new industrial project is considered to be controversial. Compass's governmental relations expertise aggressively sought to secure approvals at both the executive and legislative branch of government, which were also sensitive to the political ramifications of such an endorsement.
While leading the governmental relations effort with Detroit City Council and other relevant city officials, Compass executed community outreach effort that included
Constant contact with city and community leaders, environmental leaders and other interested groups
A series of town hall meetings to educate the community about the project
The lead on editorial board meetings, which garnered positive endorsements from both daily and weekly publications as it related to the project