Is Iowa key to Hyperion air permit denial?
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.
The conversations are a clue that opponents may focus on that perceived fundamental flaw in the permitting process in their continuing battle to defeat Hyperion. That means the Iowa DNR would become involved. Two states’ agencies in the mix means the federal Environmental Protection Agency would likely become involved and perhaps become the ultimate “decider” on the permit. Perhaps.
Opponents charge that since Gov. Mike Rounds appointed the members of the Board of Minerals and Environment, which will decide whether to grant the air permit, and so they will take their cue from his enthusiastic support for the project and vote 9-0 to grant the air permit. A federal authority may be the only recourse then.
The board has said it expects to vote at its next meeting, Aug. 20, in Pierre, following what amounts to closing arguments by the company and opposition attorneys, finally ending the contested case hearing requested by Hyperion. The hearing has been spread over parts of three months already.
Cable declined to say Friday whether making the air permit a federal case is their strategy, but said it’s “not a bad ” guess. Cable hinted the opponents, which include local Save Union County and the Sierra Club, had a new tac in mind after the state Supreme Court decline to hear Cable’s appeal following Circuit Judge Steven Jensen’s ruling in October that Cable failed to show in court that he would suffer more than anyone else in the county from the refinery’s pollution. Therefore, he had no standing to sue the county for granting zoning needed for the refinery, Jensen said.
Opponent Doug Maurstad charged in a recent blog that the BME folks couldn’t even find Elk Point (although they held a public hearing there prior to the formal contested hearing starting up in Pierre), Sioux Falls or Sioux City on a map. He’d like nothing better for them to find Sioux City, though – and get to know the Iowa DNR that has jurisdiction there.
Stay tuned.
Tags: doug maurstad, Ed Cable, Hyperion Refining, south dakota board of minerals and enrivonment, u.s. environmental protection agency