In 2015, Flint Hills Resources’ Pine Bend refinery celebrated its 60th anniversary and the people and community partnerships that have helped make Pine Bend one of America’s leading refineries. Pine Bend has become one of the nation’s best refineries through an unparalleled commitment to safety, superior environmental performance, producing products that Minnesotans depend on, and making a difference in the community.

To help celebrate 60 years of the Pine Bend refinery, more than 1,000 community members, retirees, partners and others gathered to tour the Pine Bend refinery, talk with refinery leaders, and enjoy lunch.

Take an aerial tour of the Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend refinery to learn more about the refinery, the jobs it provides, and the company’s commitment to safety and the environment.

Flint Hills Resources is constructing what is believed to be the largest solar installation in the country that is designed to directly power a single facility or business. The 45-megawatt, $75 million solar development will include at least 100,000 solar panels and provide direct power to the Pine Bend refinery. The solar development will be located on about 300 acres of the company’s property immediately adjacent to the refinery complex.

In an effort to improve reliability, reduce key emissions, and improve its ability to convert crude oil into transportation fuels, Flint Hills Resources recently completed work on several processing units at the Pine Bend refinery.

The Pine Bend refinery was featured on Into the Outdoors, a science education television program for kids. The show describes the complex process of refining oil in a way that is understandable to all ages. Not only does it outline how chemistry and physics are applied, it showcases the sophisticated process units involved to make transportation fuels from crude oil. In addition, the program talks about how technology is used to transport crude oil and refined fuels through pipelines, and looks at what the Pine Bend refinery is doing to take care of the environment.

We are proud to partner with a variety of organizations which contribute their expertise, creativity and time to benefit our community. We thank our community partners for their tireless dedication and outstanding efforts to make Minnesota an even better place to live, work and play.

Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend is a proud funder of Project CAR, which helps fix some of the most polluting vehicles on Minnesota roads. Led by Environmental Initiative, the project works with partner auto repair garages to identify vehicles with outdated or broken emission controls or exhaust systems and encourages income-eligible drivers to have repairs made at low or no cost. Project CAR is the first program of its kind in Minnesota.

 

Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend is a founding sponsor of Project Green Fleet, a collaborative effort among businesses, nonprofits and governments led by Environmental Initiative to install pollution control equipment in thousands of Minnesota school buses, heavy-duty trucks, construction equipment, and other diesel vehicles.

For more than 30 years, Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend and Ducks Unlimited have worked together to conserve nearly 200,000 acres of Minnesota’s lakes and wildlife habitat. Highlights of the partnership include restoring more than 36,000 acres of wild rice lake habitat, protecting or restoring 144,235 acres of wetlands and 54,097 acres of grasslands; and permanently protecting five miles of sensitive shoreline.

Since 1997 the Pine Bend refinery has supported the DARTS Learning Buddies program, which brings together older adults and students in kindergarten through eighth grade to share experiences and learn from one another. Volunteers mentor students in the areas of reading, spelling, vocabulary, science and math.

Since 2000 Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend has partnered with Friends of the Mississippi River to restore 1,650 acres of natural prairie and oak savanna in an area known as the Pine Bend Bluffs Natural Area along the Mississippi River.

The refinery partners with Friends of the Mississippi River and Great River Greening to bring goats to the Pine Bend bluffs as a part of an innovative approach for maintaining and restoring natural habitat.

The Pine Bend Bluffs are Certified Gold by the Wildlife Habitat Council through its Conservation Certification® program, a voluntary sustainability standard for habitat and species management and conservation education on corporate land holdings. In 2023, Flint Hills earned the gold certification for the first time, the highest level of recognition available. The company has the only Certified Gold site in the Twin Cities metro area.

For more than 20 years, Flint Hills and its volunteer partners have worked to maintain and improve this important habitat.

Flint Hills Resources has partnered with the Science Museum of Minnesota since 1998. During this time, Flint Hills’ support has allowed more than 145,000 Minnesota students to experience interactive school assemblies and take memorable sleepover field trips to the museum.

Since 2001 Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend has sponsored the world-class Flint Hills Family Festival in Saint Paul, which provides children and families the opportunity to experience international puppetry, dance, music, drama, acrobatics and more.

Since 1989, the Pine Bend refinery has partnered with the Minnesota Zoo to provide enriching educational opportunities for students, families, and the entire community to experience wildlife at the zoo. Highlights of this partnership include Pine Bend’s support of the Zoo Safari program, which allows students to experience the zoo while following a syllabus that aligns with state STEM curriculum standards, and the ZOOMS STEM Design Challenge, which provides students with real zoo-based challenges and asks them to develop solutions using their creativity, math, science, and engineering skills. The project culminates with a ZOOMS Design Challenge Exhibition at the Minnesota Zoo in the spring, where the top student designs from across the state compete for the top prize.

For more than 15 years, Flint Hills Resources has supported the Carpenter Nature Center.  The center has more than 10 miles of hiking trails and an interpretive center, where 7,000-10,000 Minnesota and Wisconsin students visit each year for field trips and hands-on learning experiences that fulfill state science curriculum standards.

The Pine Bend refinery hosts free training sessions for law enforcement and public safety responders at its training facility.  The comprehensive training center provides law enforcement, fire, rescue, military, and government agencies the opportunity to train in mock situations ranging from bomb threats to hazardous materials to search and rescue.