Damaged oil refinery closing; parish weighs economic impacts

BELLE CHASSE, La. (AP) — A Louisiana oil refinery that was flooded during Hurricane Ida is being shut down and turned into a storage terminal, prompting local leaders to assess the potential economic impacts that could come with losing one of the area’s biggest employers. The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reports that Phillips 66 announced Monday it was closing its Alliance Refinery along the bank of the Mississippi River just south of New Orleans. The Houston-based company said the extensive damage from the storm was too expensive to repair. Converting part of the existing infrastructure at the 2,400-acre site will likely affect most of the 900 employees and contractors who currently work there.