So here it is, the paragraph correcting my error in Sunday’s preview of what is anticipated to happen this week at the contested case hearing on Hyperion Refining’s preconstruction air quality air permit application. The hearing is set to re-convene Tuesday in Pierre before the DENR’s Board of Minerals and Environment. That’s the board that will grant, or not grant, the required permit for the proposed oil refinery/energy center:The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources has not made changes to the air-quality permit being sought by Hyperion Refining since the start of a contested case hearing in May and did not meet with a Hyperion consultant earlier this month. The meeting took place June 14-15, 2008. A story headlned “Battle Over Hyperion Air Permit to Resume” on Page A1 of the Journal’s June 21 edition contained incorrect information. (more…)

Refinery opponent Doug Maurstad said this week he’s taking a break from the fight.

“I’m burned out,” he wrote in an e-mail. “Been on this subject for over two years and I’m convinced it will never happen, and if it does, I can’t control it anyway.”

Maurstad said he regretted that his argument was reaching such a small audience, but remained philosophical. “This refinery is never going to happen,” he wrote, “and look how many lives are in turmoil because of it.”

He said the Journal should continue to ask where the oil is coming from – he doesn’t think the Alberta tar sands are a viable source; how refinery products will leave the refinery, and the literal money question – where is the $10 billion coming from.

For now,  Hyperion is sticking with the tar sands and has said it will both pipe and truck out finished products. As for financing, if any is in place the company is not revealing its source. The fact is, that none of those answers will matter if the company can’t get the pre-construction air quality permit it needs to move ahead on the project. It doesn’t make sense to pour more money into pipeline development or rights of way or preconstruction activity until that permit is locked in.

So, is Maurstad mistaking this lull — at least in what the public sees – as the project’s demise? Or is it the calm before the flurry of preparations to build?

I wasn’t expecting to consider Langston Hughes or his famous poem, “Dream Deferred,”  when I went to the courthouse in Elk Point, S.D., this morning to cover a public hearing on the proposed make-over of the county’s zoning ordinance.

But that’s what happened.

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As in most major elections, the most active supporters and opponents in tomorrows ballot question on the zoning Hyperion Resources needs to build its $10 billion, 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery, will join their disparate fellow campaign workers at separate locations Tuesday night to watch the returns come in.The polls close at 7 p.m. and the first returns will be available at 8 p.m., with updates every five minutes afterward, according to Union County Auditor Carol Klumper. Klumper will be putting up the numbers in the commissioners’ room at the courthouse where the public is welcome.However, Hyperion executives and those who have worked to get out the ‘Yes” vote will gather at the Elk Point home of Joyce and “Bort” Bortscheller. Joyce was busy preparing for their guests earlier today  when she said it wasn’t exactly a party.  If it goes badly for them, she said, “We’ll cry together. If it passes, we’ll celebrate together.”

As they say, it ain’t over yet. In fact, the most intense days in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary election — and the ballot question on zoning for Hyperion Resources’ proposed oil refinery/energy center — are upon us, opponents, proponents, voters and journalists.

My colleague Dave Dreeszen and I will be following the race, both in this space and in print.

On Sunday, we’ll be boiling down the issues one last time, looking at voter registration trends and providing practical information on where and how to vote, along with an online map of the precincts to help get voters to the polls.

On Monday, we’ll be out following the last push by refinery opponent groups Save Union County Committee and Citizens Opposed to Oil Pollution, as well as those by Citizens for Hyperion and the company itself, with reporting online and in Tuesday’s paper. We’ll also run the list of polling places and the map of the precincts again.

Journal Editorial Page Editor Michael Gors has runs volumes — and volumes — of letters to the editor both for and against the Hyperion project, for nearly a year. But the mailbox shuts down at noon today. Any letter not already submitted will not be considered.

Click here to submit a letter.

The final letters ahead of Tuesday’s election will be published on Saturday and Sunday. After that, it’s all about what you think — and which way Union County votes.

My story in print and online today details the campaign finance activity of the four ballot question committees — two in support of the proposed Hyperion Energy Center and two against.

Included is an itemized list of individual contributors of $100 or more for the four groups — Save Union County, Citizens Against Oil Pollution, Citizens for Hyperion and Hyperion Energy Center Referendum. The latter committee was formed by Texas-based Hyperion.

Through May 19, the four groups combined to raise nearly $100,000 to help sway the Union County electorate in the June 3 referendum over a zoning change that would permit Hyperion’s refinery and gasification power plant, including $45,000 from Hyperion itself. (more…)