New South Dakota Oil Refinery One Step Closer to Reality
First in America Since 1976
Voters have said yes to a zoning ordinance that would result in construction of the nation’s newest oil refinery in over 30 years.
The highly contentious issue has pitted neighbor against neighbor in Union County, SD for months after Hyperion Energy first applied for a zoning permit to build the refinery.
Elk Point, SD city officials, quoted in the Sioux City Journal, were elated over the vote, saying it could bring thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars into the farming community.
$10 Billion Project
Hyperion plans to use 3,292 acres of farm land to build what Hyperion claimed would be a “green” energy center, the worlds cleanest, at a cost of $10 billion
The facility would process 400,000 barrels of Alberta tar sands crude a day, turning it into what the company says is low-sulfur gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, in addition to an IGCC (integrated Gasification Combined Cycle) power plant.
Read below, under “Posts Related to Oil and the Environment“, for an article I wrote last year on the tar sands, and a podcast interview with Liz Moore on her run-in with Syncrude.
At stake, according to company and local officials, will be 4,500 construction jobs, and over 1,800 permanent full time employees.
Opposition Unbowed
Opponents of the plan vow to do anything possible to stop the plant from becoming reality. The “not in my back yard” crowd cites health issues from pollution and other troubles the refinery would bring to their neighborhoods.
While the zoning issue is a big step, the company now has to submit a series of applications to local, state and federal agencies before construction an begin.
Opponents say they have strategies that will slow or delay the permit processes.
Hyperion says it plans to break ground in 2010.
Posts Related to Oil and the Environment:
- Podcast Interview with Liz Moore, who documented the Alberta Tar Sands project and was not allowed to publish pictures depicting damage to the local environment on her website. The link to my introductory story is here with pictures and links to the Syncrude project. Here is my interview with Liz.
- Canada Unleashes First Carbon Tax in N. America
- Sorry Bush, Voters Think Investment in Renewable Energy is the Best Option
- Ship By Rail, Reduce Annual Greenhouse Gas Emissions By More Than 12 Million Tons
Image Credit: www.ktiv.com/Images/ hyperion-resources-logo.jpg
The short term result of higher prices is driving innovation on alternative fuels and helping to save the environment.The long term effect is that you get ignorant people screaming to drill for more oil and driving harmful politics when the money used for drilling should be used to push alternatives that we’ll eventually switch to.The moral of the story is: you can force people to conserve and consequently help the environment but you can’t make all stupid people smart about politics.Oh, and blame John McCain who voted against CAFE standards, which would have raised your gas mileage, for the lousy gas mileage you get and the amount you have to pay.
Earth FIRST…Then drill the other planets
“Canada and the U.S. really should work together to rid our continent of Middle East Oil.”
Ok, so lets see how Congress looks at this problem.
Problem: Too much reliance on ME oil.
Assumption #1: Never drill inside the U.S. borders, don’t drill off the coasts, and drilling in general is bad.
Assumption #2: Oh, that “no drilling” that also means “no converting shale to oil” (ask Colorado’s Senator Ken Salazar, who is blocking this effort). Seriously, that would also be horrible, bad, and should never be done; even if in todays market it would be worth the cost. Because more oil = bad.
Solution: What’dya mean we don’t have a solution. We’ve deliberately cut off every source of domestic oil supply we could, why hasn’t the supply gone up and the prices dropped? It must be those eeevil oil companies.
Maybe Solar power will fix it, or cold fusion, or fairy dust and unicorn dreams… but not oil, not nuclear, not natural gas, and not hydroelectric. We can’t possibly use proven technology, we need assumptions, not facts to solve this…
Why anyone thinks Congress is doing anything useful is beyond me.
The short term result of higher prices is driving innovation on alternative fuels and helping to save the environment.
.. because nothing helps innovation like less money and a tighter economy. God forbid we try this when we’ve got surplus funds for investment, it’d never work…
The long term effect is that you get ignorant people screaming to drill for more oil and driving harmful politics when the money used for drilling should be used to push alternatives that we’ll eventually switch to.
… Like corn ethanol (which barely breaks even) Solar (without battery tech to store it) Wind (which can’t cover the costs of building its own transmission lines) and puppy dog dreams (or whatever snake oil is being sold today). Maybe another claim that hydrogen is a fuel source, and not a transmission method?
The moral of the story is: you can force people to conserve and consequently help the environment but you can’t make all stupid people smart about politics.
… But you can tell them that if they suffer enough now on earth, that Al Gore will make a place for them in eco-heaven; where there will always be green trees and daffodils.
Oh, and blame John McCain who voted against CAFE standards, which would have raised your gas mileage, for the lousy gas mileage you get and the amount you have to pay.
… Right, because John McCain saying “make cars get 45 MPG” would magically make the technology to do that. Hell, if that’s true, why stop at 45, why not 45,000 MPG? If science is simply driven by legislature, and Congress can mandate scientific discoveries, then 45,000,000 is right around th4e corner.
Or maybe that’s a dumb statement. So, CAFE standards? Can Congress legislate scientific advances, or are you making shit up and hoping nobody notices?
“The short term result of higher prices is driving innovation on alternative fuels and helping to save the environment.The long term effect is that you get ignorant people screaming to drill for more oil and driving harmful politics”
Don’t you love it when people use half truths. The only reason why high gas prices incourage alternative fuels is because the price of alternative fuels are arleady high. So, if for example, gasoline becomes more expensive than Ethonol then everyone will invest in Ethonol. True, but that does not cause the price of Ethonol to come down. You are still going to have people demanding lower prices of ethonol.
Also you cannot artificially drive up prices and hope for a solution to just appear. I’m not sure how you can consider that and then call something else dangerous politics.
Hey, come on down to Upper Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee where we have high unemployment, no industry since Osh-Kosh moved out, gas at $3.99 this morning. We will welcome you with open arms!!! Don’t worry about pollution ’cause we all smoke anyway. We need the jobs to feed our families.
What the hell do some of these people want , to go back to the horse and buggy day , clean up the horse shit off the street. Build the dam refinery .
If this only costs 10 billion. Tell me why are we digging on Mars at a cost of about 10 new refineries. Why don’t we add this to the cost of the war and build 8 new refineries every time we re-fund the war. We can always say we will not tax your big earnings! if you build 10 to 12 new refineries.
Let’s stop cackling about the right and wrong in developing this new refinery. Based on the Federal, State and Local demands regarding particular ‘mixtures’ they will accept, where, we need scores of new refinaries in Canada and the U.S.
I think that the two countries should agree on ONE ‘mixture’ for all - say the California Emissions Standard. That simplifies the what, how and where to build.
As for the acreage being utilized that could otherwise be used for fsrming, let us not forget the millions of regular food growing acres being fruitlessly converted to corn for Ethanol. Nor that this decision is causing higher food prices here and food shortages across the world.
Let the Environmental Elites shut up for a while so that the people, who know how extract us from our problems, can do so as soon as possible - then we can worry about pollution etc., when we no longer depend on any unfriendly foreign powers dominiating our economies.
Why the hell are we giving our oil to the Americans only to buy it back at a more expensive price. We need to get those refineries in Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. You Yanks are robbing us blind. Lumber, Oil, Even Drinking water. Shame on your obese country.