Marcus Hook

A Delaware County man was arrested Wednesday after authorities said he robbed a bank in his neighborhood twice and used the money to pay property taxes, put new windows in his house, and fund a trip to Atlantic City. David Federowicz, 39, of Marcus Hook, was arrested without incident, District Attorney Jack Whelan said in a statement. He was charged with robbery, theft, and receiving stolen property. According to court documents, Federowicz robbed the Sovereign Bank in Marcus Hook in January and September 2011, stealing more than $14,000.

The Delaware County Industrial Development Authority on Wednesday announced it has contracted with IHS Global Inc. to study potential uses for the 781-acre Sunoco Inc. Marcus Hook complex. The $100,000 study, which the Delaware County Council has agreed to finance, is expected to be completed in a month. Sunoco shut down its refinery in December, but says it has received no credible offers to operate the site as a refinery. IHS Global, an international information company with experts in energy, economics, sustainability and supply-chain management, is based in Colorado and has local offices in Eddystone.

Now that ConocoPhillips has agreed to sell its Trainer refinery to Delta Air Lines, and Sunoco Inc. is engaged in talks to run its Philadelphia refinery as a joint venture, the immediate fate of only one of the region's endangered refineries remains clouded in uncertainty. Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery, which company officials say aroused no interest from potential buyers to run as a refinery, is being groomed instead as a potential multipurpose industrial site for storing, handling, and even processing fuel, including by-products from the Marcellus Shale region.

The new chief executive of Sunoco Inc. is going on a charm offensive to counter some of the hard feelings the company has generated over its decision to exit the refining business. Brian P. MacDonald, who was promoted March 1 from chief financial officer to chief executive, has maintained a full schedule of meetings with public officials and community leaders to explain Sunoco's move to close or sell its Philadelphia and Marcus Hook refineries. "We're reaching out to people and telling our story about what we're doing and why," MacDonald said in an interview ahead of a meeting Thursday morning with the executive committee of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Sen. Bob Casey, who has publicly demanded that Sunoco Inc. account for its decision to get out of refining, appears to have mended fences with the Philadelphia oil company. The Pennsylvania Democrat met with Sunoco's new chief executive, Brian P. MacDonald, on Thursday at his Harrisburg office, and both parties made conciliatory statements afterward. "I think it's important that we look forward now," Casey said in a telephone interview. "Having this discussion today was, for me, just speaking for myself, very helpful.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr., who has publicly demanded that Sunoco Inc. account for its decision to exit refining, appears to have mended fences with the Philadelphia oil company. The Pennsylvania Democrat met with the new Sunoco chief executive, Brian P. MacDonald, on Thursday at his office in the capital, and both parties had conciliatory statements afterward. "I think it's important that we look forward now," Casey said in a telephone interview. "Having this discussion today was for me, just speaking for myself, very helpful.

MARCUS HOOK has long been a quintessential company town, joined at the hip with the iconic Philadelphia company Sunoco for more than a century. With imminent closure of Sunoco's refinery there, most of the 590 workers get their last paychecks today. Now, fear is seeping into this quaint, tight-knit, working-class burg in Delaware County - fear that it could turn into a modern-day ghost town. When Sunoco said in September that it would dump the last of its remaining refining operations and focus on oil pipelines and fuel retailing, local workers and residents hoped that a buyer would emerge for the 110-year-old, 175,000-barrel-per-day refinery.

The head of Sunoco has met with officials in Marcus Hook to object to a zoning change that could limit the company's plans for its soon-to-be-closed refinery. Incoming Sunoco Inc. CEO Brian MacDonald met with local officials Wednesday, only hours before the local zoning board was to take up the issue, the Delaware County Daily Times reported. Later that night, the board voted in favor of an amendment that would restrict storage of petroleum products at the Marcus Hook site to only those manufactured there, which would severely limit the potential for bringing in imported refined products to store there.

Susan Bethard stopped at a Sunoco station in Lower Chichester Township on Monday to put 9.3 gallons of gasoline into her Pontiac before departing on a mission to the shopping mall. The price per gallon: $3.65. "I try not to look at the prices; they're shocking," said the Trainer resident. She said that between driving her daughter to cheerleader competitions and commuting to her job as a sales assistant at a Bala Cynwyd investment firm, the fuel charges were taking a toll. AAA says the average price nationwide was $3.56 on Sunday, up five cents in a week, and the pain is expected to get worse in the next few months.