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Thursday, April 25, 2024

New Navajo Refinery plant manager a safe choice

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Michael McKee, a 31-year veteran in the refinery business,  joined the Navajo Refinery as plant manager last week. (Tyler Green – Daily Press)
Michael McKee, a 31-year veteran in the refinery business, joined the Navajo Refinery as plant manager last week. (Tyler Green – Daily Press)

By TYLER GREEN
Daily Press Staff Writer

“Safe, reliable and environmentally sound,” is Michael McKee’s mantra for operations at the Navajo Refinery. “When you find yourself adhering to those,” says the new plant manager, “the other things – profitability, capital budget and those types of things – take care of themselves.”

McKee took the helm of the 100,000 barrel-per-day refinery June 5 and says he is excited to work for Holly Corporation, a company he believes will be one of the key players in the fuels industry, especially with their recent merger with the Frontier Corporation announced earlier this year.

Originally from New Orleans, McKee left his home state for New York where he graduated from Cornell University and began a career in petroleum refining with the Atlantic Richfield Company in 1979.

Fresh out of college and after only 18 months on the job, a wave of retirements presented an opportunity for the ambitious McKee to move into the operations side of refining. … For the rest of the story, subscribe in print and on the web.

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