Hyperion claims refinery would help farms survive
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, January 11, 2008
ELK POINT, S.D. -- Hyperion Resources officials built their case for a new zoning category for their proposed oil refinery Thursday night before the Union County Planning and Zoning Commission.
ELK POINT, S.D. -- Hyperion Resources officials built their case for a new zoning category for their proposed oil refinery Thursday night before the Union County Planning and Zoning Commission.
The company is asking the county to create an Energy Center Planned Development zoning category for 3,882 acres of land currently zoned for agriculture. The potential project has been divisive in the area, with citizen committees formed on both sides.
Project executive Preston Phillips said in answer to a question from a commissioner that the Dallas-based company would not pursue the refinery if the community voted against the rezoning in a referendum.
Project executive Corky Frank and Todd Meierhenry, a Beresford, S.D., attorney working with the company, also took a portion of the 90-minute presentation.
If constructed, the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery would be the first built in the United States in more than 30 years. The officials pitched the project as a step, along with various renewable energies, in reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Local benefits
Meierhenry juxtaposed studies showing the decline and low profitability of farming in the county with a study showing the massive economic impact Dakota Dunes, a planned development in the southern tip of the county. He said they show that the $10 billion oil refinery would be the salvation of small farms by providing 1,800 jobs and the off-farm income needed to allow families to stay on the land.
And, he said, it would provide a windfall of tax revenues for the county, schools and state, tripling the county's tax valuation to $3.4 billion. He also worked to convince commissioners that the planned development zoning fit into the county's comprehensive plan and was superior to the alternatives.
Environmental pitch
Phillips touted the facility's anticipated environmental profile. He said the refinery would draw about 10 million gallons of water from the Missouri River each day -- 1/20 of 1 percent of the river's daily flow -- from shallow wells so as not to affect recreational use of the river. It would also create a 500-acre wetland recreation area.
In addition, the refinery would supplant river water use by using its own "gray water" from restrooms and captured rainfall run-off, and then return it to the earth cleaner than the river water.
And, he pledged, the emissions into the air would be 1/30th that of the typical Midwest coal plant and 80 percent less than any refinery in California, which has the strictest air quality regulations.
"There will be no odor and there will be no noise," Frank pledged.
Time line
Frank said design work will take two years, construction four years and production could begin in 2014. He said the company anticipates about half the estimated 4,500 construction workers would live within commuting distance and that others would live in area housing. He said the rest would be housed on-site in a hotel-like facility that would be dismantled and removed afterward. It would have its own dining and recreational facilities.
And, Frank said, once running, the refinery would have a citizens' advisory board to help Hyperion be a good corporate citizen.
Afterward, the Hyperion officials took questions from the five commissioners. A few of the technical questions were answered by a dozen consulting experts, such as engineers and air quality scientists, working on the project.
Afterward, Ed Cable, co-chairman of the opposition Save Union County Committee, which tried unsuccessfully to halt the meeting with a court action Wednesday, said his questions weren't answered.
More than 100 people attended the meeting. The crowd was quiet and attentive and appeared to be evenly split in favor and against the refinery, judging from the stickers and buttons many wore.
There was a sense at the 4 p.m. start time that the meeting might be ended before it began. Union County State's Attorney Jerry Miller took the commissioners into a closed session to advise them regarding the court summonses they had received Wednesday as part of SUCC's request to the court "stay" Thursday's meeting.
The public was not given an opportunity to speak, but will get its chance in a public hearing set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Elk Point-Jefferson High School auditorium.
Although Hyperion was not scheduled to make a presentation that night, Phillips asked if it could and agreed to limit it to 30 minutes. He asked that the company's time in no way limit the time the public would have to give its comments.
Initially the zoning commission said Thursday's meeting would constitute the company's input.
* no discharge into Brule Creek
* no restricted access to cemeteries nearby
* company would pay for all its own frastructure
* company would not request a tax increment finance district
* the refinery would not make asphalt or tar
ELK POINT, S.D. -- Hyperion Resources officials built their case for a new zoning category for their proposed oil refinery Thursday night before the Union County Planning and Zoning Commission.
The company is asking the county to create an Energy Center Planned Development zoning category for 3,882 acres of land currently zoned for agriculture. The potential project has been divisive in the area, with citizen committees formed on both sides.
Project executive Preston Phillips said in answer to a question from a commissioner that the Dallas-based company would not pursue the refinery if the community voted against the rezoning in a referendum.
Project executive Corky Frank and Todd Meierhenry, a Beresford, S.D., attorney working with the company, also took a portion of the 90-minute presentation.
If constructed, the 400,000-barrel-per-day refinery would be the first built in the United States in more than 30 years. The officials pitched the project as a step, along with various renewable energies, in reducing U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
Local benefits
Meierhenry juxtaposed studies showing the decline and low profitability of farming in the county with a study showing the massive economic impact Dakota Dunes, a planned development in the southern tip of the county. He said they show that the $10 billion oil refinery would be the salvation of small farms by providing 1,800 jobs and the off-farm income needed to allow families to stay on the land.
And, he said, it would provide a windfall of tax revenues for the county, schools and state, tripling the county's tax valuation to $3.4 billion. He also worked to convince commissioners that the planned development zoning fit into the county's comprehensive plan and was superior to the alternatives.
Environmental pitch
Phillips touted the facility's anticipated environmental profile. He said the refinery would draw about 10 million gallons of water from the Missouri River each day -- 1/20 of 1 percent of the river's daily flow -- from shallow wells so as not to affect recreational use of the river. It would also create a 500-acre wetland recreation area.
In addition, the refinery would supplant river water use by using its own "gray water" from restrooms and captured rainfall run-off, and then return it to the earth cleaner than the river water.
And, he pledged, the emissions into the air would be 1/30th that of the typical Midwest coal plant and 80 percent less than any refinery in California, which has the strictest air quality regulations.
"There will be no odor and there will be no noise," Frank pledged.
Time line
Frank said design work will take two years, construction four years and production could begin in 2014. He said the company anticipates about half the estimated 4,500 construction workers would live within commuting distance and that others would live in area housing. He said the rest would be housed on-site in a hotel-like facility that would be dismantled and removed afterward. It would have its own dining and recreational facilities.
And, Frank said, once running, the refinery would have a citizens' advisory board to help Hyperion be a good corporate citizen.
Afterward, the Hyperion officials took questions from the five commissioners. A few of the technical questions were answered by a dozen consulting experts, such as engineers and air quality scientists, working on the project.
Afterward, Ed Cable, co-chairman of the opposition Save Union County Committee, which tried unsuccessfully to halt the meeting with a court action Wednesday, said his questions weren't answered.
More than 100 people attended the meeting. The crowd was quiet and attentive and appeared to be evenly split in favor and against the refinery, judging from the stickers and buttons many wore.
There was a sense at the 4 p.m. start time that the meeting might be ended before it began. Union County State's Attorney Jerry Miller took the commissioners into a closed session to advise them regarding the court summonses they had received Wednesday as part of SUCC's request to the court "stay" Thursday's meeting.
The public was not given an opportunity to speak, but will get its chance in a public hearing set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Elk Point-Jefferson High School auditorium.
Although Hyperion was not scheduled to make a presentation that night, Phillips asked if it could and agreed to limit it to 30 minutes. He asked that the company's time in no way limit the time the public would have to give its comments.
Initially the zoning commission said Thursday's meeting would constitute the company's input.
* no discharge into Brule Creek
* no restricted access to cemeteries nearby
* company would pay for all its own frastructure
* company would not request a tax increment finance district
* the refinery would not make asphalt or tar
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Terry Bumpers wrote on May 27, 2008 11:47 AM:
jps4161 wrote on Apr 11, 2008 12:35 PM:
PhiDeck wrote on Feb 23, 2008 11:09 PM:
Billboard wrote on Jan 14, 2008 12:00 PM:
as long as it keeps the illegals
off the streets. "
Union2 wrote on Jan 13, 2008 7:47 PM:
"He said the company anticipates about half the estimated 4,500 construction workers would live within commuting distance and that others would live in area housing. He said the rest would be housed on-site in a hotel-like facility that would be dismantled and removed afterward. It would have its own dining and recreational facilities."
Okaaayyy, so how does THAT help the local economy? Hyperion (or whoever actually builds it) builds housing, provides meals and recreation. Well,that will certainly reduce the overall impact on the community, won't it? "