Alcester Union & Hudsonite Online

ELK POINT – After public input and nearly an hour of discussion Tuesday morning, the Union County Commission voted unanimously to approve Hyperion Resources’ application to rezone 3,292 acres of west central Union County land for the construction of an oil refinery and energy center. The new zoning category will be known as an Energy Center Planned Development District.

The commission approved the application after discussing several changes to be made to the rezoning application relating to fees the county could charge, water drainage issues, road issues and other items. The revised application also involves nearly 500 fewer acres than the 3,882 acres in the original application. Changes made to the footprint of the energy center will keep the entire project east of 473rd Street, which is a county blacktop highway that runs south of Spink.

Hyperion project executive Preston Phillips said the change was made after hearing from locals about expected traffic problems and other concerns. The change will also allow that land to remain in crop production.

Nearly 100 supports and opponents of the project packed the Union County Courthouse basement, with several speaking either in favor of or again the proposed application during the public input portion of the meeting.

The vote Tuesday followed two marathon public hearings in Elk Point on January 16 and March 3, where nearly 300 people voiced their opinions, either for or against the proposed project.

Opponents of the project said the commissions’ vote on Tuesday didn’t come as a surprise to them.

Save Union County Committee co-chairman Ed Cable said that, even with the changes made to the rezoning application, it was not enough to quell many of the concerns the opposition had about the project.

Jason Quam of Citizens Opposed to Oil Pollution (COOP) said a lawsuit might be filed because the rezoning application had been substantially altered during Tuesday’s second reading of the ordinance. The first reading took place following the March 3 public hearing.

Opposition groups will now likely try to gather enough signatures to force the issue to a public vote. County officials are expecting as much, and said if the issue is forced to a public vote, they hope to be able to get the issue on the June 3 primary ballot in order to avoid a costly single-issue election.

Quam said he would like to see the issue go to a public vote in a special election, and not as part of the June 3 primary ballot.

Some of the changes the commission made to the rezoning application was the county’s authority to charge and collect certain fees, prohibiting any landfills on the project site, requiring certain drainage guidelines, prohibiting any discharges into the Brule Creek, and other items related to the project.

When completed, the $10 billion Hyperion Energy Center will convert 400,000 barrels per day of Canadian crude oil into refined fuels and byproducts. The project will also house its own power plant to provide most of the power needed to run the facility. It will be the first refinery built in the United States in over 30 years, and is being touted as a “green” refinery using new technology that will emit far less pollution than traditional oil refineries.

Also on Tuesday, the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved the application for the construction of the Keystone Pipeline through eastern South Dakota. The pipeline will carry 590,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil per day from Alberta, Canada to refineries in Oklahoma and Illinois.

Although Hyperion officials have said they have not spoken formally with people at the Keystone Project, some have speculated that Hyperion may seek to tap into the Keystone line, which will run from north to south through South Dakota, crossing the Missouri River near Yankton.

When the project was first proposed Keystone officials said the pipeline would likely run near Beresford and Alcester before crossing the Big Sioux River south of Akron.

Sponsored by: