Refinery explosion roils northern Minnesota's asphalt supply

ANGORA, Minn. — Dave Clement used to expect a daily delivery of two truckloads of asphalt binder from the Husky Energy refinery in Superior, Wis., to his worksite's mobile asphalt plants, where it would be mixed with gravel and placed on the road.

But ever since the refinery exploded in April, Husky has been offline and Clement, an asphalt manager at KGM Contractors based out of Angora, has been dealing with higher asphalt prices, driven up by a lower supply and compounded by having to transport the oil further from its source.

When Husky was operating, most of Clement's projects were within 100 miles of Superior. The same truck could fill up at the refinery, drop it off at the worksite and repeat that process once more within a typical work day.

"Now, with the oil 500 miles away, they can't make it in one day," Clement said. "One truck can't even make one load. One truck can make half a load a day. It takes four times as many trucks."

Read more: http://www.wctrib.com/news/traffic-and-construction/4486780-refinery-explosion-roils-northern-minnesotas-asphalt-supply