External Capacity Building
Marathon supports the efforts of communities and governments to ensure their
sustainability through their own human capital. The Company encourages the
establishment of mechanisms to assist stakeholders, as appropriate, to meet their
capacity-building challenges.
To ensure that local medical responders can effectively treat exposure to hydrofluoric (HF) acid, Marathon's Texas City, Texas, refinery arranged for a physician from an HF acid manufacturer to provide specialized training for safety, emergency response and operations personnel from Marathon and neighboring facilities. The refinery plans to arrange the training every few years to maintain the local knowledge base.
To establish commercial infrastructure and create job opportunities near two historically African-American colleges, SSA built a convenience store in an underserved area of Ohio. An Ohio member of the U.S. House of Representatives secured government funding that enabled a nonprofit organization to purchase the property. SSA built the store as a community investment and leases the property from the nonprofit owner, thereby providing the nonprofit with income. SSA employs students from the colleges in its store and is developing internship and co-op programs for the students in its Enon, Ohio, office.
Indigenous Communities
The U.N. defines indigenous peoples as those who have retained social, cultural,
economic and political characteristics that are distinct
from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Marathon respects the
desire of indigenous communities, peoples and nations to preserve, develop and
pass along their territories, cultures and institutions to future generations.
The Company outlines the expectations and implementation process for engaging
and communicating with these populations in its Global Performance Management
System.
Marathon works with Native American Indian communities at the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming and the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. In April 2008, the Company began drilling a well on the Fort Berthold Reservation. This is the first well drilled on the first tribal lease granted under the 1982 Indian Mineral Development Act Agreement. Marathon has worked with the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation to gain mutual agreement on land usage, fees and the use of tribal labor on the well. With up to three more wells planned in 2008, Marathon's goal is be a socially responsible, long-term operator on the reservation.
Support for human services organizations in 2007 included volunteer projects to build
and restore homes. In Houston, Worldwide Completion Manager Bruce McIninch (above) and
other employees who built a home with Habitat for Humanity enjoyed getting to know the
recipient family. Marathon employees rehabilitated homes for low-income elderly
residents in Dayton and Columbus, Ohio, through Rebuilding Together©. Employees in St.
Paul Park, Minnesota, improved living conditions for an elderly homeowner through
Hearts & Hammers.
Community Impacts and Resettlement
Marathon strives to avoid negative socioeconomic impacts and involuntary
resettlement of individuals and communities in siting, developing and operating
its assets. Community engagement is based in part on the International Financial
Corporation's (IFC) guidelines Doing Better Business Through Effective
Consultation and Disclosure, and Social Performance Standard #5: Land Acquisition
and Involuntary Resettlement. These guidelines are particularly applicable in
developing countries, such as Equatorial Guinea and Indonesia.
When seismic work unintentionally damaged the fields and crops of indigenous subsistence farmers near the site of a proposed Marathon facility in Equatorial Guinea, the Company initiated participatory consultation with the communities. The goal of the consultation was to develop an acceptable solution that would support the economic viability of the two affected communities into the future. The Company based its voluntary efforts on international best practice from the World Bank Operational Policy on Involuntary Resettlement, IFC Performance Standards and other resources.
