Sioux City Journal

'Vehemently opposed' to Hyperion refinery

Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2007

VERMILLION, S.D. -- I cannot blame Hyperion for wanting to come to South Dakota. If I owned an oil refining company, I would want to come to South Dakota, too. Where else can they find plentiful, clean water, clean air and low environmental regulations with minimal enforcement ability?

When they arrive here flaunting their phony "green" campaign and begin spewing carcinogenic pollution into our soil, air and water, remember, it will not be their fault. They are only greed-driven capitalists doing what comes natural. The fault will lie with the community members that welcomed Hyperion or did nothing to stop them when they had the chance (which is now).

The reason I am so vehemently opposed to a refinery in our community is not because I resist change. It is because greedy, profit-driven motivation (by Hyperion and South Dakotans) will destroy much of what makes this area a great place for our children to raise a family and call home. It is for them I protest.

As part of the "me" generation that squandered our wealth and left a multi-trillion-dollar IOU for our children to pay, I do not want to do the same thing with our environment.

What are we willing to allow a lipsticked pig do in our home for near worthless script? -- Michael O'Connor

Story Comments

Gus wrote on Jun 22, 2008 6:27 PM:

" Don't ask my state to supple copper to yours as we realize the necessity of copper smelters and the emmissions that come from them. Selfish NIMBYism like yours, in this nation needs to stop. "

Doug wrote on Apr 20, 2008 7:43 AM:

" There you all are, acting like children who are looking at mouth watering sweets in a store window. When Dad and Mom tell you that candy rots your teeth, you start to cry and you want it anyway. Mr. O'Connor has taken a stand for the community and the environment, not his own personal gain. Don't be so completely dismissive of his arguments. And Brett, oil is not the new age, it is from our flawed past. You may have missed out on some alternative energy sources that don't pollute. He didn't go to the meeting? You guess? Your meetings do not serve the purpose of answers to questions that involve research and time you don't want to spend finding real answers instead of corporate marketing and promises that once broken cannot be fixed. Well, they could serve some function; they feed those same old passions that have been around for centuries; blind faith and greed...
Go get your candy bars!
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SD Born wrote on Dec 27, 2007 1:40 PM:

" Some questions for Mr. O'Connor:

In all of your years of farming in Union County, how many hundreds of tons of fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides did you dump on your farmland?

How many hundreds of tons of manure was deposited on your land?

And now you suddenly have such a deep concern for the environment?

Give me a break! "

Robert wrote on Dec 27, 2007 11:47 AM:

" Unioncogal: The answers are there if you would read. The problem is you are trying to build a case against the refinery rather than looking at both positive and negative data. You only want to see and read the negative. Do refineries and power plants have emissions? Yes. Is this one cleaner than what is currently in the area? Yes. In fact the total emissions from this refinery will be 1/30th of Port Neal. I can guarantee you would be using Port Neal as a comparison if the emissions from Hyperion's Energy Center were even a decimal point higher than Port Neal. How many people a year are killed in farm accidents? Should get rid of farming because someone might die? Should we shut down the irragation systems in Union County because they use to much water? Should we outlaw future home building (developments and acreages) because they reduce the tillable acres? You can go on and on.

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unioncogal wrote on Dec 26, 2007 3:52 PM:

" We don't want to sit in a restraurant in the smoking section because we would be breathing carcinogens that are known to cause cancer, but favoring the building a refinery that emits formaldehyde and benzene which are known carcinogens (and many more toxic chemicals) makes no sense. An older Texas refinery reports that it emits over 173,000 pounds of toxic chemicals a year, but Hyperion has asked for an air quality permit for 2,000 TONS (400,000 pounds) of carbon monoxide and 1,000 TONS (200,000 pounds) of particulate matter a year. This company is cleaner? If the company plans to build apartment buildings to house thousands of their own transient workers that puts a bump in the road to jobs for the local people. A gal who has worked for almost 20 years at a refinery says that gasoline will NOT cheaper near a refinery. Hyperion wants to use 12 million gallons of water a day from our aquifer when Nebraska and Kansas are fighting about water for irrigation of their cropland. Fifteen were killed in the Texas refinery explosion in 2005. We ask questions and are not getting answers from Hyperion.

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