HOUSTON – CITGO Petroleum Corporation and its employees joined the more than one billion people around the world celebrating Earth Day on April 22 by taking part in environmental protection efforts held across the country.   

“Safeguarding the environment for both now and generations to come is a key focus for CITGO,” said CITGO President and CEO Nelson Martinez. “While we undertake great efforts to ensure environmental safety every day, on Earth Day we reemphasize our commitment to a clean and healthy world.”  

In Houston, where the company is headquartered, CITGO and the Houston Audubon Society hosted a cleanup day at the Edith L. Moore Sanctuary, which provides educational programming as well as a home for native wildlife. Volunteers assisted with trail maintenance, litter pickup and invasive plant removal. CITGO employees also participated in “e-waste” recycling by turning in inoperable or unwanted electronic devices to be recycled or disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.

Outside of Houston, the three CITGO refineries (in Corpus Christi, Texas; Lake Charles, La.; and Lemont, Ill.) also hosted additional Earth Day activities:

• The CITGO Corpus Christi Refinery returned to the Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve for the Texas General Land Office Adopt-a-Beach cleanup event. Team CITGO volunteers scaled the coast, picking up trash and debris and beautifying the overall area.
• CITGO Earth Keepers, at the CITGO Lake Charles Refinery, recently launched Phase II of the program, which has expanded the outreach of recycling initiatives to include schools in the City of Lake Charles. Earth Keepers provides classroom and outdoor recycling bins to local schools at no cost, as well as instructions and recycling education, so students can come and easily dispose of materials that would otherwise end up in landfills. So far, 11 schools in Lake Charles have launched their Earth Keepers programs, joining the 13 schools in Sulphur already recycling. CITGO is proud to continue its relationship with these schools in promoting environmental stewardship through the CITGO Earth Keepers program. CITGO Earth Keepers is in partnership with City of Sulphur, City of Lake Charles, Calcasieu Parish School Board, Waste Management and Stine.
• On Saturday, April 23, CITGO Lemont Refinery employees along with community members returned to the Heritage Quarries Recreation Area (HQRA) to continue the work of removing invasive species in the area and replanting native seeds and trees. This is part of an ongoing partnership with HQRA that began in the fall of 2014.
• The CITGO Lemont Refinery also partnered with the Village of Lemont and the Lemont Environmental Commission to process oil for recycling at the town’s Annual Spring Recycling Event.

The commitment from CITGO to environmental stewardship extends far beyond Earth Day. Many of the activities that took place on Earth Day, including cleanup efforts at Hans and Pat Suter Refuge and HQRA, are part of the CITGO Caring for Our Coast environmental restoration campaign. In 2014, CITGO launched Caring for Our Coast, which has committed resources for more than 40 projects involving 3,600-plus volunteers, including many CITGO employees, families and friends. Combined, volunteers have planted more than 200,000 plugs of dune grass, trees and bushes and collected 2,800 pounds of trash in support of restoring and protecting more than 400 acres of coastal habitats in the Gulf. On a local level, the CITGO refineries consistently support park and refuge clean-ups, beach restoration projects and recycling efforts.