The crown jewel, according to one former Koch Industries insider, was the Pine Bend Refinery, than called the Great Northern Oil Company, in Rosemont, Minnesota, not far from Minneapolis. In 1959, Fred Koch bought a one-third interest in the concern
In 1969, two years after Charles Koch took the company's helm, Koch Industries acquired the majority share in the refinery. Charles later described the purchase as "one of the most significant events in the evolution of our company."
Pine Bend was a gold mine because it was uniquely well situated geographically to buy inexpensive, heavy, "garbage" crude oil from Canada. [Ed. note: otherwise known as bitumen] After refining the cheap muck, the company could sell it at the same price as other gasoline. Because the heavy crude oil was so cheap, Pine Bend's profit margin was superior to that of most other refineries. And because of a host of environmental regulations, it became increasingly difficult for rivals to build new refineries in the area to compete.
... In 2012, [wrote David Sassoon of InsideClimate News], "This single Koch refinery is now responsible for an estimated 25 percent of the 1.2 million barrels of oil the U.S. imports each day from Canada's tar sands territories." (60)