Geismar

Operations

Geismar is the largest US producer of nitric acid.
Annual capacity – 930,000 tons of nitric acid, 223,000 tons of phosphoric acid
Products – nitric acid, nitrogen solutions, phosphate fertilizer and industrial products

Performance

Significant Developments

• In September, Hurricane Gustav damaged much of our facility; employees rebuilt and restarted production units.
• In response to recruitment problems due to the decrease in the local workforce pool, we partnered with professional associations to solicit candidates, worked with recruiters, requested employee referrals and liaised with educational institutions.
• Achieved no Occupational Safety and Health Administration recordable injuries or lost-time injuries of employees during 2008.
• Achieved all our Short-Term Incentive Plan safety targets.
• Implemented Homeland Security Transportation Worker Identification Credential regulations; an on-site Transportation Security Administration agent was assigned to enroll employee and plant contractors and activate transportation worker identification cards.

Community Relations

• Geismar participates in two community advisory panels (CAPs), the Ascension Community CAP and the Iberville Community CAP, which is the oldest active and standing CAP in the US. There were 24 CAP meetings in 2008.
• Our purchasing manager volunteered as committee member for the Ascension Parish Chamber of Commerce to organize a "Business and Industries Connection" function, to emphasize how local businesses affect the local community. This function involves identifying activities such as total dollars spent with local businesses, number of employees at industries, and taxes industries pay to local communities.

Community Donations

• Cash contributions to local community organizations totaled $109,580 in 2008. The principal recipients were the Capital Area United Way campaign, March of Dimes, USS Kidd Foundation, Providence Corporate Cup and Junior Achievement.
• In-kind contributions totaled $120,000. The main recipients were America House, March of Dimes, Baton Rouge Area American Cancer Society, Keep Baton Rouge Beautiful, CHEMFriends and Community Awareness Emergency Response Door to Door.

Education Initiatives

• Provide scholarships through membership in industry groups; 3,000 process technology scholarships for two years are available to residents of Ascension Parish.
• Residents of Iberville Parish can qualify for four $6,000 academic scholarships for four years, two $3,000 process technology scholarships for two years and two one-time technical scholarships of $1,000. Iberville Parish scholarships are given through EIG Group of Industries, and Ascension Parish scholarships through Career Builders industry group.
• Geismar has an Adopt-a-School partnership with G.W. Carver Middle School. We participate in an engineer intern program with Louisiana State University and have received an incumbent worker grant for Louisiana Community College in Sorrento.

Environmental Initiatives

• Began preliminary work on the nitric acid train 5 project that is designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the acid train.

Awards

• In 2008, we received recognition and awards from Ascension Chamber of Commerce as a long-standing member, from the United Way for corporate matching, for March of Dimes sponsorship and from Ascension Parish Chemical Industry as a process technology program supporter.
• Received the American Society of Safety Engineer Sponsorship Award.

Local Procurement

• Made local purchases in 2008 of goods, materials and services totaling $35.5 million, or 66 percent of expenditures (excluding major expansions, raw materials, energy and transportation).

	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
Annual Production (000 tons)
Nitrogen solutions	-	130	108	573	525
Nitric acid	574	626	585	771	659
Phosphoric acid	188	203	162	172	162
Employment
# of employees	132	131	139	139	139
# of female employees	20	20	20	20	20
Gender ratio (% female/total employees)	15.2	15.3	14.4	14.4	14.4
Average tenure (years)	14.3	14.2	14.3	14.3	14.6
Absenteeism rate (% hours absent)	3.2	2.9	1.8	3.2	3.4
Employee training provided (hrs per employee)	117	249	48	82	83
Safety Performance
Lost-time frequency (per 200,000 hrs)	–	–	0.7	–	–
Recordable frequency (per 200,000 hrs)	–	0.7	1.9	–	–
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
GHG emissions (000 tonnes)	1,091	1,191	1,152	1,633	1,367
Normalized GHGs (GHGs/tonne production)	7.92	6.50	6.78	5.02	4.73
Criteria/Significant Air Pollutants (tons)
Nitrogen oxides	167	170	190	426	300
Carbon monoxide	160	203	281	425	413
Ammonia	43	61	47	160	160
Emissions to Water (tons)
Ammonia as N	11	32	41	25	16
Total nitrogen as N	55	106	155	86	77
Water Use (million gallons)
Water withdrawn	4,530	2,834	1,880	4,758	3,665
Recycled water	1,711	2,000	1,606	1,695	1,695
Environmental Expenditures ($ million)
Operating expenditures	6.1	7.2	6.7	7.8	9.9
Capital expenditures	1.9	0.8	1.8	2.9	1.7
Energy
Energy costs ($ million)	6.4	8.5	12.8	14.9	16.9
Energy use (BBtu)	600	903	719	999	1,162
Procurement
Local purchasing ($ million)	25.0	21.7	42.1	18.9	35.5
Source: PotashCorp