As it prepares to ramp up work on a long-delayed $2.2-billion expansion of its southwest Detroit oil refinery, Marathon Petroleum is stirring controversy among environmentalists and residents of two polluted neighborhoods where it has been trying to buy homes.

The expansion promises to create 135 jobs and generate millions of dollars in tax revenues. Even more important, Marathon says, it will help ensure that Michigan's only oil refinery will operate well into the future.

The project has been fully approved and when complete, will enable Marathon to process more Canadian oil sands, which data from the company show will increase pollutants, irritating environmentalists.

Some residents who live near the refinery also accuse Marathon of making lowball offers to buy their houses, which the company wants for parking or green space.

Residents, whose homes are in the dirtiest ZIP code in Michigan, complain that the purchase agreements would bar them from suing Marathon for any future health problems.

Marathon denies these accusations, saying the offers are based on fair market value.

"We have tried to be more than fair," Marathon spokeswoman Chris Fox said. "We want to be a good neighbor."

Marathon's neighbors desperate for a fresh start

The houses are disappearing on Pleasant Street. Turn right on Patricia Street, and only three vacant homes are left. And on nearby Liddesdale Street, piles of dirt and cement stand where many families once lived.

In this southwest Detroit neighborhood with an expanding Marathon Petroleum refinery on one end and a new retention basin for sewage overflow on the other, the residents who have not left are desperate to move, weary of the dirty air, chemical fumes and the constant noise of trucks barreling by on I-75.

"It's a toxic wasteland," said Adrienne Crawford-Hill, who has lived at 12516 Pleasant St. for decades and dreams of moving to Phoenix or North Carolina to escape the dust that constantly accumulates on her window sills and cars. "It's not so pleasant."

She and many of her neighbors who live around the corner on Liebold Street want Marathon to buy them out. But according to some residents who have contacted the company, the money Marathon is willing to pay isn't enough for them to leave the pollution behind and make a fresh start elsewhere.

Marathon says it is offering residents the fair market value for their homes and is not forcing anyone to leave. It wants to create green space around its 81-year-old Detroit refinery, which is in the midst of a $2.2-billion expansion.

Pollution and health concerns

The standoff illustrates the complexities and difficulties involved in converting residential areas into other uses, even in a city with an overabundance of living space. The issue is more pressing than in other parts of Detroit because of the pollution problems affecting the neighborhood, part of the dirtiest ZIP code in Michigan.

So far, Marathon has purchased two homes in the area of Liebold and Pleasant Streets and has outstanding offers on three others. On the other side of the refinery, it has bought two homes and two businesses in the Oakwood Heights neighborhood.

It's not a secret that southwest Detroit is a hotbed for heavy industry, with a city incinerator and factories that produce everything from steel and coal.

Rhonda Anderson, an environmental-justice organizer for the Sierra Club, said Marathon is not the worst polluter, but it is a major contributor to the problem. "No one is trying to stop new jobs, but at the same time, it is killing us," she said.

Crawford-Hill and several other residents say that the air quality in their neighborhood has worsened since the refinery expansion began three years ago. They accuse Marathon of dumping toxins into the sewer line that runs by their homes. Marathon denies this.

What Marathon says

"We stay well within our permitted emissions," said spokeswoman Chris Fox, noting that the refinery has reduced its total emissions since 1999 by 76%.

She said Marathon plans to install a carbon bed system that would remove odors from the wastewater that its refinery generates. Fox also noted that the company has not violated any wastewater-discharge rules.

Since 2008, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has issued five violations against the company, four of them within the last year. Three of them involve odors that "constitute an unreasonable interference with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property."

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, said she is concerned that Marathon's purchase agreements contain provisions that would prevent residents from suing the company in the future over health problems caused by pollution from its refinery.

"A lot of residents, when we met with them, had no idea the clause was there," she said.

Fox said the provisions were contained in a couple of previous purchase agreements but are no longer in them.

Ready to go, if the price is right

For now, many residents are stuck in limbo. Regina Smith said that she did not accept Marathon's offer to buy her house at 775 Liebold because it was too low.

Like many residents, Smith's mortgage was paid off a long time ago. "We didn't create the situation, so why should we pay for it?" she said.

Her neighbor, Tracie Stewart, also wants to sell if she can find another house downriver. "With what they are offering, I can't buy the house I need," said Stewart, a stay-at-home mom who has three young children.

A few residents have accepted Marathon's offers, including the Rev. Earnest Ford and his wife, Arnette Ford.

"We thank God that we got delivered out of here," Arnette Ford said. "The area is not livable anymore. We're praying for the others."

The Fords could not reveal what Marathon had paid them for their house at 779 Patricia St. because of confidentiality agreements they signed with the company. On Monday, they plan to move to Winston-Salem, N.C.

Crawford-Hill said she is negotiating with Marathon over the sale of her home.

But in the Oakwood Heights neighborhood, Linda Martin, who lives on Colonial Street, said Marathon's offer for her home was not enough to enable her to make a down payment on another house.

"My husband and I do not want to start house payments again," said the 61-year-old retiree whose car is constantly coated with silver particles. "We can't afford to just walk away from our home."

Photos by PATRICIA BECK/Detroit Free Press

The expansion of the Marathon refinery in southwest Detroit, Michigan's only oil refinery, promises 135 jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenues. But some of its neighbors are already worried about toxins affecting their health and an increase in pollution.

Having sold her home near Marathon, Arnette Ford, right, says good-bye to Adrienne Crawford-Hill. Ford and her husband are moving to North Carolina.

Living on Pleasant Street is "not so pleasant," says Adrienne Crawford-Hill, who has made her home there for decades. "It's a toxic wasteland," she says, in part because of tankers that leave her car constantly covered with dust. She and Marathon are negotiating the sale of her home.

Earnest and Arnette Ford sold their home and are ready to move. Some neighbors say they can't afford to go based on what Marathon is offering. It's fair market value, the company says, and no one has to leave.

For Regina Smith, the issue is the stink that comes from drains on Liebold Street, the street on which she lives. She and others say Marathon is dumping toxins through the sewer system. Marathon denies it.

Tracie Stewart, 38, and her 5-year-old son Ludecius Stewart Jr. also live on Liebold. She says Marathon, which plans to create green space near the refinery, isn't offering enough money to buy what her family needs.

Contact Katherine Yung: 313-222-8763 or kyung@freepress.com