NEWCASTLE - An American flag ripples in a gray stream of emissions at the top of a smokestack at the Newcastle oil refinery. It's the first prominent feature for those who drive into town from the north on U.S. Highway 16.

The flag points predominantly southeast, drawing an invisible fallout zone which Angela Giffin and her husband Steven Huerta will avoid when shopping for a new home.

"We don't want to be downwind of the refinery," said Giffin, 27. "Health effects from the refinery have not been proven. But that doesn't mean it's not causing health problems."

Newcastle was one of several towns Giffin called home while growing up. After completing college and starting her career in Oregon, it didn't take much to convince Huerta - an Oregon native - to start a new life in this town of nearly 3,500.

"I petitioned to stay here in Newcastle because I absolutely love it," said Huerta, 30.

A person might be tempted to draw a dividing line between the older and the younger generations in Newcastle when it comes to sentiments about the refinery. But that wouldn't be entirely accurate.

As in any other small Wyoming town, residents here don't identify themselves with just one industry or entity.

"There are differences of opinion on every subject," Huerta said. "But everyone in the community really does care about the community itself."

Strained relations

Although the refinery isn't a hard dividing point among Newcastle residents, it is the source of some strained relations here.

Denver-based Wyoming Refinery Co., a subsidiary of Hermes Consolidated Inc., recently reached a settlement with 47 current and former Newcastle area residents. They'd brought suit against the company for a 2002 catalyst spill and other pollution from the refinery.

For years, there have been complaints that emissions from the refinery aggravate and may even cause a number of health problems in the community. The spill in March 2002 was followed by another the very next month, sparking even more scrutiny of the plant's emissions.

"It's embarrassing," Wyoming Refining Co. spokesman Bob Neufeld told the Star-Tribune in April 2002.

No warning was sent out to residents regarding the spills. Local and state health officials couldn't provide information about potential health risks related to the material. The Wyoming state health officer wasn't aware of the March spill until a Star-Tribune editorial was published a week later.

Since then, Wyoming Refining Co. has helped with the cost of a new reverse 911 call system. Emergency response officials say they're better prepared today.

The catalyst spill cost Wyoming Refining Co. a $20,000 penalty, which was assessed by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality's Air Quality Division. An air quality task force was formed to monitor volatile organic compounds and other emissions.

Yet the refinery has avoided adding new scrubbers to a catalytic cracking unit - a longtime source of frustration for many who believe that metals and volatile organic compounds emitted from the plant pose health risks.

Neufeld said new scrubbers will likely be added sometime in the future, but the company is awaiting direction from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

"We are in negotiations with EPA as part of their overall program for enforcement of all oil refineries in the country," Neufeld told the Star-Tribune recently.

Asked whether Wyoming Refining Co. can assure Newcastle residents they are safe, Neufeld said, "Yes."

"We are working very hard to beef up our safety and environmental staff. It will take some time - a few months - to get these people acclimated to our organization."

Wyoming Refining also faces legal action regarding alleged contamination of the Little Oil Creek drainage.

Refining a role

Over the years, lumber mill workers have been replaced by coal miners. Oil and agriculture remain steady, and more retirees seem to be building homes "up the canyons," according to locals.

Today, the refinery directly employs about 65 people and produces about 12,500 barrels per day. It produces diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. The refinery dates back to the 1930s.

Giffin said old-timers are quick to point out that the refinery was built first, and the town seemed to grow around it. But the refinery's historic and economic status in the community shouldn't exempt it from the best possible environmental protections, she said.

"One reason not to stay might be the refinery and the potential impacts to our health," Giffin said.

Most days of the week, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., a large group of locals gathers at Donna's Main Street Diner in downtown Newcastle to drink coffee and iced tea and discuss politics, weather and local happenings.

One prominent old-timer known as "Colonel" said when he was a kid in Newcastle in the 1930s, there were two refineries in town and a stockyard. He said Newcastle and every other small town in Wyoming owe their survival to confident people and a refusal to be defined by any economic entity.

"All this talk about the refinery never bothers me," Colonel said, adding that life isn't risk-free.

"There used to be two different kinds of people here - before petroleum and after petroleum. I can't tell what the makeup is now."

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 577-6069 or dustin.bleizeffer@trib.com.