Caltex Australia strives to conduct business in a manner that respects the environment and benefits the communities where we work. Both refineries (located at Lytton on the Brisbane River and at Kurnell in the southeast of Sydney ) maintain a programme for ensuring interaction with the environment is well-managed. This programme involves monitoring and reporting on environmental performance, liaising with government agencies and the local community, and identifying and developing improvement projects.

Environmental management at the refineries

The environmental concerns involved with operating a refinery include groundwater protection, marine water quality, air pollution and waste management. Environment protection is achieved through a combination of appropriate equipment design, a well-trained work force, good operating procedures and practices and an ongoing employee awareness plan, that starts with site induction.

The environmental protection programme at the refineries is led by a dedicated team. An Environmental Protection Superintendent coordinates the efforts of the team for each site. The environment protection departments at Lytton and Kurnell are part of the Refining Operational Excellence group and report to the Safety, Health, Environment and Risk Manager for Refining.

An environmental management system is in place at both Kurnell and Lytton. During 2005 this management system will undergo a review to bring it into line with the revised ISO 14000 standard series for environmental management.

Both refineries participate in a number of environmental performance reporting schemes. These include the National Pollutant Inventory, to which Caltex has reported since the inaugural year in 1999, and the Australian Greenhouse Challenge which Caltex joined in 1997.

The refineries constantly assess their environmental performance and initiate projects aimed at continual improvement. Recent projects include a $2 million project at Kurnell refineries in 2004 to divert the domestic sewer at the Kurnell refineries to the Sydney Water sewer system, from the existing septic treatment and ocean outfall disposal system. In 2003 Lytton Hill underwent remediation by Greening Australia to prevent erosion and improve the area visually.

Emergency preparedness is an essential element of any environment protection plan. An oil spill in Botany Bay or in the Brisbane River is an incident requiring an immediate and effective response. The refineries maintain crews of highly qualified oil spill technicians who are able to respond to an emergency. Oil spill equipment maintained on site includes boats, booms, skimmer and absorbents. The oil spill response plan is reviewed regularly and includes joint field exercises with local response agencies, such as Sydney Ports Corporation at Kurnell. Caltex oil spill personnel have been involved at recent Spillcon events, demonstrating clean up equipment.

Environmental management and community expectations
While the refineries environment protection program is largely based on the physical aspects of the environment and ensuring all statutory requirements are met, the importance of satisfying community expectations is also well understood. The term “community licence” has been developed to incorporate the need for large companies to operate with the goodwill and support of their local communities.

Refinery employees are in regular contact with the community, local government and special interest groups, consulting on immediate and long-term issues. Refinery representatives attend regular meetings with community groups where the refineries' performance is reviewed and residents' concerns are addressed. Both refineries maintain a Hotline, which the local community can use to contact Caltex with immediate issues (see right hand column). Callers to the Hotlines are attended to promptly and any concerns expressed investigated immediately.