About Marathon Petroleum

With more than 135 years in the energy industry, Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) is a leading, integrated, downstream energy company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. MPC operates the nation’s largest refining system with 13 refineries, including one in El Paso and one in Texas City. The company also manages a growing renewable fuels portfolio that includes the second largest renewable diesel facility in the U.S. Safety and environmental stewardship are among MPC’s well-established core values that guide its engagement with the communities where it operates and all other stakeholders.

Project Description & History

Marathon Petroleum is supporting the Binational Air Quality Monitoring Fund to enhance respiratory health awareness and air quality improvement initiatives in the Paso del Norte Air Basin. It’s an area with almost 3 million residents that includes El Paso; Juárez, El Paso’s sister city across the border; and parts of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The fund combines monetary contributions from private-sector and public-sector sources in the U.S. and Mexico, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The Joint Advisory Committee for the Improvement of Air Quality in the Paso del Norte Air Basin established the fund, which is managed by the North American Development Bank.

Marathon Petroleum made the first private-sector contribution to the fund with a $100,000 grant that allowed for installing a new air monitoring station in Juárez in the spring of this year (2023). This station adds to three existing, strategically located stations in Juárez, bolstering monitoring capabilities to better keep pace with the basin’s urban and industrial growth.

This air quality monitoring technology will help:

• increase the effectiveness of public health notifications
• support development of air quality goals
• strengthen air quality improvement projects in the region
• provide trend data to assist research

Community Impact

The new air monitoring station provided by Marathon Petroleum’s grant includes an ozone analyzer, equipment for measuring particulate matter and meteorological sensors. These features will increase data collection to heighten the accuracy of the basin’s data models and allow for better health risk communications. For example, the station will expand the information available for public notifications about periods when ozone levels could affect people with respiratory ailments.  With the addition of the new air monitoring station in Juárez, there are now 22 stations in the full monitoring system across the Paso del Norte Air Basin.

Learn more about this project

See the full article >