Marathon Petroleum Corporation
MPC
Energy
2
exclusion reasons
2 themes
This page is part of our public exclusion list — a transparency tool that shows which companies we screen out and why. It is not investment advice, and it is not an accusation. But it is subject to change as our understanding of the facts evolves.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation operates one of the largest oil refining networks in the United States, a process that requires massive volumes of water for cooling and processing. Its refineries are frequently located near critical watersheds, including the Great Lakes and Puget Sound. In August 2025, Washington state fined Marathon’s Anacortes refinery over $1.3 million for mishandling acid waste sludge, a portion of which was stored in a 150,000-gallon pond, posing a direct contamination risk to adjacent marine waters. This penalty is part of a broader pattern of regulatory failures documented by ViolationTracker, where Marathon has accumulated numerous environmental enforcement actions. The company’s operations represent a systemic risk to both the quality and security of local water supplies in the communities where it operates.
Marathon Petroleum Corporation is one of the largest petroleum refiners and marketers in the United States, operating 13 refineries with a combined capacity of approximately 2.9 million barrels per day. The company derives the vast majority of its revenue from refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and other petroleum products, which it sells through its Speedway retail chain and other marketing channels. This core business of processing and distributing fossil fuels places it squarely within the downstream fossil fuel sector.
The company has a documented history of environmental violations related to its operations. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency reached a settlement with Marathon for failing to comply with Clean Air Act fuel quality standards at several facilities, which the EPA estimated resulted in roughly 40 excess tons of volatile organic compound emissions. More recently, ViolationTracker documents ongoing environmental penalties, including a 2024 EPA fine of $225,715. A significant 2021 incident involved a crack in an aging pipeline that released 1,400 barrels of oil, described as the company's worst spill in years.
While Marathon has initiated some renewable diesel production, such as a test run at its Dickinson refinery in 2021, and explored modest distributed energy projects, these efforts represent a minor component of its overall business strategy focused on expanding and maintaining its fossil fuel infrastructure. The company's continued reliance on and investment in petroleum refining and marketing, coupled with its record of operational pollution, defines its primary economic activity.
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This information is provided for educational and transparency purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice. Data is drawn from independent watchdogs, NGOs, government registries, and Ethical Capital's ongoing research — see Research Sources for the full list.
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