Doug Maustad, of rural Alcester, S.D., says he is so thoroughly upset with Union County’s new zoning code, and not just the part covering political and other signs — such as “Vote No Hyperion” and “Save Union County” — that he’ll run for the County Commission next June.
Several opponents of the proposed Hyperion Refinery seem to be mentioning frequently the fact that the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources allowed Hyperion to use air quality data for Sioux Falls when figuring the composite amount of pollution the refinery’s emissions would mean for the air in Southeastern South Dakota.
They argue that Sioux City is twice as close to the site just north of Elk Point, S.D., as is Sioux Falls. And, and since the atomoshpere doesn’t respect state lines, it is Sioux City’s (much dirtier) air quality that should be included in the formula. The total projected pollution would likely prohibit construction of the refinery here, they say, due to federal limits.
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…)
DAKOTA DUNES — The Dakota Valley Business Council sent out a message Monday urging its members to voice their support for the $10 billion, 400,000-barrel-per-day when the state South Dakota Department Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Board of Minerals and Enviornment holds public comment meetings Wednesday and Thursday in Elk Point, S.D.
The DVBC took that stand about a year ago and spoke in support of the project before the public hearings on rezoning the 3,292 acres for the project held by the county zoning board and board of county commissioners.
DVBC President Greg Miner said in a statement that the business council wants its members to voice support for the project and to ask the DENR “to objectively evalutate the Hyperion Air Quality Permit and act on it without delay.”
Following the two days of public comment in Elk Point and a tour of the proposed site about seven miles north of there, the BME will hold a trial-like contested case hearing on the air quality permit over two weeks, one each in May and June, in Pierre. There’s no telling how long the board will review the evidence and application before ruling on it.
Hyperion needs the permit before the project can proceed.
Unless the Canadian government steps forward to provide more infrastructure assistance, an opportunity to expand Alberta’s oil sands industry and create hundreds of high-paying jobs will most certainly be lost foreover, a report released this week said, “Future of oil sands depends on government intervention”
The Alberta Federation of Labour commissioned the report, dubbed “Lost Down the Pipeline,” which found that despite the global recession, energy companies are proceeding with aggressive plans to dramatically expand U.S.-based refining capacity, and American-bound pipeline capacity.
In its report, the AFL listed U.S. refiners planning to tap into Alberta’s vast oil sands reserves, including Hyperion Refining, which hopes to build a 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Union County, S.D.
“What our research shows is that American refineries will have the capacity to process all of the expected increase in oil sands output from Alberta,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “As a result, unless the Stelmach government steps in much more aggressively than it has, the raft of upgrader postponements we’ve seen here in Alberta will almost certainly turn into permanent cancellations. We’ll be losing literally thousands of jobs down the pipeline.”
The beginning of either a potential end of Hyperion’s refinery project — or its acceleration — is finally at hand. We’re less than a month from the business meeting and public hearing set for April 15 and 16 in Elk Point, S.D. by the South Dakota Department of Natural Resources’ Board of Minerals and Environment.
The board will meet both days at the Elk Point-Jefferson High School, 402 Douglas St., in Elk Point. The public hearing will precede the more technical contested case hearing on the project’s required pre-construction air quality permit, without which the company won’t put so much as a shovel in the ground.
For now, here’s the proposed agenda for the local, public hearing, which includes board business besides Hyperion Refining – it could change:
* 10 a.m. Start time on Wednesday, April 15
* Roll call
* Minutes
* Mining issues
*Oil & Gas contested case
* Hyperion motions hearing and prehearing conference
* Lunch break
* 1:15 p.m. — site tour, BME, staff, representatives of the parties. Public can trail along but not participate
* 3 p.m. – Begin the public comment portion of the meeting
* 5 p.m. — Adjourn for dinner
* 7 p.m. — Reconvene for public comment
* 9 p.m. — Adjourn
Thursday, April 16
* Reconvene for public comment
* Continue as needed but no later than 5 p.m.
The more definitive contested case hearing on the air quality permit is set for May 19-22 and June 23-26, in Pierre.
It will examine the specifics of the pre-construction air quality permit, which Hyperion must have in order to begin construction of the 400,000 barrel per day oil refinery it is proposing for southern Union County. The contested hearing is a legal proceeding; all parties must be represented by an attorney.
The beginning of either a potential end of Hyperion’s refinery project — or its acceleration — is finally at hand. We’re less than a month from the business meeting and public hearing set for April 15 and 16 in Elk Point, S.D. by the South Dakota Department of Natural Resources’ Board of Minerals and Environment.
The board will meet both days at the Elk Point-Jefferson High School, 402 Douglas St., in Elk Point.
For now, here’s the proposed agenda – it could change:
The more definitive contested case hearing on the air quality permit is set for May 19-22 and June 23-26, in Pierre.
It will examine the specifics of the pre-construction air quality permit, which Hyperion must have in order to begin construction of the 400,000 barrels per day oil refinery it is proposing for southern Union County. The contested hearing is a legal proceeding; all parties must be represented by an attorney.
DES MOINES — Ed Cable, leader of Save Union County’s campaign against Hyperion Refining’s proposed oil refinery — has waived his right to a hearing and given up his architect’s license in Iowa permanently after what the state claims is a failure to comply with the rules.
Cable signed a consent order on Dec. 12 in a disciplinary case brought against him by the Architectural Examining Board of the State of Iowa. The order follows a suspension of Cable’s license. In the order, the board reprimands Cable for practicing architecture with a suspended and lapsed registration and with violating a prior order imposing discipline. (more…)
YUMA, Ariz. — Arizona Clean Fuels appears to be on track to be the first company to build an oil refinery from scratch in 32 years. If it is successful, Hyperion Refining, the Texas company proposing to build a $10 billion, 400,000 barrel-per-day oil refinery in southern Union County, S. D., would have to let go of its own aspiration to be the first.
“We’re very close to finishing our financing,” Clean Fuels Vice president David Treanor, told me recently. “We hope to wrap things up in the next month then move forward with construction in the second quarter of `09.”
The project got started in 1999, so that would make it a 10-year journey from start to shovel in the the ground. Hyperion’s work, at least what the public is aware of, looking back, started sometime in 2006. (more…)
James Heisinger, chairman of both the Living River Group and South Dakota chapters of the Sierra Club, sent out a press release this morning commenting on a couple letters from federal agencies that found a number of shortcomings in Hyperion Refining’s draft air quality permit and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ handling of it.
Environmentalists are cheering this week’s selection of Rep. Henry Waxman to chair the the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The California Democratic wrestled the post from its longtime Democratic leader, John Dingell, a long-time champion of auto makers in his home state of Michigan. Dingell also was regarded as closer to utilities, oil and gas producers.
Waxman, an ardent climate change campaigner, along with President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats who control Congress by big margains could advance new environmental policies that would slow or even derail the proposed Hyperion Energy Center.
The proposed Union County refinery would process 400,000 barrels of crude per day from the rich oil sands fields of Alberta, Canada. As the Calgary Herald reported this week, “Oil sands foe wins U.S. energy chair,” Waxman has battled against expansion of oil sands development, “which has received bad publicity south of the border due to the energy-intensiveness of production and increasing greenhouse gas emissions.” (more…)