Proposed refinery excites young people, official says
By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor | Posted: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
SIOUX CITY -- The prospect of a $10 billion oil refinery coming to Union County excites a lot of young area residents, a local economic development leader said Monday.
"About everybody I've talked to under 30 thinks this is the greatest thing -- that we can have very quality, high-paying jobs for them to stay in this area, or for those outside to come back," Bruce Odson, president of the Elk Point Economic Development Corp., told the Downtown Sioux City Rotary Club.
Odson, a newspaper publisher in southeast South Dakota, compared the youthful enthusiasm for the "green" energy center to the legions of young voters who supported U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign in last week's Iowa caucuses.
Keeping talented young workers in the tri-state area and convincing others to return home, Odson said, would be a key to filling the more than 1,800 permanent jobs that Hyperion Refining, a division of Dallas, Texas-based Hyperion Resources, would create. The skilled positions would pay wages averaging $20 to $30 an hour.
Odson said he and other local leaders have heard repeatedly from mothers seeking local jobs for their engineer-trained sons or daughters.
"One question that came up frequently was, "Could we recruit the workers?'" Odson told the Rotarians. "What we're seeing in this whole process is ... the type of people they want to recruit will want to come back to the Sioux City, Union County, Sioux Falls, Vermillion areas, and there will be more than enough qualified candidates ..."
More than a year ago, Odson was one of the first local leaders briefed on Hyperion's interest in Union County. He and three other Elk Point officials signed agreements promising not to publicly divulge the identity of the entity optioning thousands of acres of farmland for the massive project, dubbed the Gorilla.
In June, Hyperion announced a site just north of Elk Point was a finalist for its refinery, which would be the first built in the United States in more than three decades.
Last month, the energy firm filed a massive application to rezone 3,882 acres it has assembled from agriculture to a newly created planned Energy Center Planned Development District. The planning and zoning commission is scheduled to hear a formal application from the company Thursday.
Odson said Hyperion officials anticipate tough questioning and scrutiny during the zoning and permitting process. So far, the company has lived up to its commitments, he said. "They've done everything they said they were going to do."
Throughout his address Monday, Odson spoke highly of the energy center and the team Hyperion put together to lead the project, one of the largest in U.S. history.
"We feel these are very genuine people," he said. "We feel they are very sincere in trying to develop a green facility. We feel they will bring the best and the brightest to that project."
"About everybody I've talked to under 30 thinks this is the greatest thing -- that we can have very quality, high-paying jobs for them to stay in this area, or for those outside to come back," Bruce Odson, president of the Elk Point Economic Development Corp., told the Downtown Sioux City Rotary Club.
Odson, a newspaper publisher in southeast South Dakota, compared the youthful enthusiasm for the "green" energy center to the legions of young voters who supported U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign in last week's Iowa caucuses.
Keeping talented young workers in the tri-state area and convincing others to return home, Odson said, would be a key to filling the more than 1,800 permanent jobs that Hyperion Refining, a division of Dallas, Texas-based Hyperion Resources, would create. The skilled positions would pay wages averaging $20 to $30 an hour.
Odson said he and other local leaders have heard repeatedly from mothers seeking local jobs for their engineer-trained sons or daughters.
"One question that came up frequently was, "Could we recruit the workers?'" Odson told the Rotarians. "What we're seeing in this whole process is ... the type of people they want to recruit will want to come back to the Sioux City, Union County, Sioux Falls, Vermillion areas, and there will be more than enough qualified candidates ..."
More than a year ago, Odson was one of the first local leaders briefed on Hyperion's interest in Union County. He and three other Elk Point officials signed agreements promising not to publicly divulge the identity of the entity optioning thousands of acres of farmland for the massive project, dubbed the Gorilla.
In June, Hyperion announced a site just north of Elk Point was a finalist for its refinery, which would be the first built in the United States in more than three decades.
Last month, the energy firm filed a massive application to rezone 3,882 acres it has assembled from agriculture to a newly created planned Energy Center Planned Development District. The planning and zoning commission is scheduled to hear a formal application from the company Thursday.
Odson said Hyperion officials anticipate tough questioning and scrutiny during the zoning and permitting process. So far, the company has lived up to its commitments, he said. "They've done everything they said they were going to do."
Throughout his address Monday, Odson spoke highly of the energy center and the team Hyperion put together to lead the project, one of the largest in U.S. history.
"We feel these are very genuine people," he said. "We feel they are very sincere in trying to develop a green facility. We feel they will bring the best and the brightest to that project."
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justasprout wrote on Jan 11, 2008 2:11 PM:
Billboard wrote on Jan 9, 2008 5:44 PM:
Union County, South Dakota
FREE PRESS
Read the facts. "
Feelings wrote on Jan 8, 2008 11:43 PM:
sick of it wrote on Jan 8, 2008 10:31 PM:
yoo maama wrote on Jan 8, 2008 6:36 PM: