SDPJC: What You Should Know About Hyperion and Oil Refineries
The following is reprinted with permission from the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center.
Hyperion Resources, Inc. Proposes an Oil Refinery
What You Should Know
Karen Hall
Environmental Engineer
Fact: The proposed Hyperion refinery, if built, will be located closer to Vermillion than to Elk Point. The proposed site is at the northeast corner of I-29 and US 50, 8 miles from Vermillion and 11 miles from Elk Point. Please call it “the Vermillion refinery,” not “the Elk Point refinery.”
Fact: Hyperion Resources, Inc., has never built, owned or operated an oil refinery, yet their CEO asserts that Hyperion will operate the refinery once it is built. No new refinery has been started up in the United States since 1976. The most dangerous periods of time in refining are startups and shutdowns.
Fact: If built as proposed, the Hyperion refinery will be the sixth largest in the nation at 400,000 barrels/day of crude oil processed. For purposes of size comparison, the Conoco refinery in Billings, MT, processes 50,000 barrels/day and the Tesoro refinery in Mandan, ND, processes 58,000 barrels/day. The Wyoming Refining Co. refinery in Newcastle, WY, processes 15,000 barrels/day.
Fact: If built as proposed, the Hyperion refinery will likely be the second largest polluter in the state, behind Big Stone Power in Milbank, SD.
Fact: There is no such thing as a “green refinery,” despite what Hyperion asserts about its project.
A smaller refinery in Minnesota (285,000 bbl/day), where regulations are strict and enforcement swift, processes the identical crude oil that Hyperion proposes to use. The Minnesota refinery’s emissions in 2005 (after reducing its air emissions by 50% over 5 years) included 5,150.35 tons of pollutants to air, 599.14 tons toxic pollutants to air and water, and 619 tons of hazardous waste, for a total of 6,368.5 tons. Assuming Hyperion’s refinery, using the Best Available Control Technology mandated by law, produces approximately the same amount of pollution per barrel of crude oil processed, the total could approach 8,916 tons per year, or 24 tons of pollution produced per day.
Fact: Hyperion originally asserted that it would recover carbon dioxide emitted from its stacks and, using the process of carbon sequestration, store that CO2 underground ground. Since it was pointed out that the technology of carbon sequestration is commercially untried and unproven, however, Hyperion has backed off that claim. Carbon dioxide sequestration is typically proposed for underground formations, including exhausted oil wells, closed underground mines, and salt domes, none of which are located near the Vermillion area.
Fact: If Hyperion’s facility is built, it won’t affect area gas prices significantly. Gasoline is a commodity. Its price is set by regional, national and world markets. Because transportation costs to local stations will be less, prices may be a few cents lower per gallon than in more distant communities.
Fact: If Hyperion’s facility is built, there will be additional stress on local and area infrastructure. Truck loading racks, open 24 hours a day, will mean a significant increase in truck traffic. Hyperion has not yet addressed the possibility of barge traffic on the Missouri. It will also likely build a spur to the refinery site and haul products by rail.
Fact: Hyperion originally asserted that the refinery would use 9 to 12 million gallons of surface water per day, presumably from the Missouri River. Surface water is contaminated with sediments and biological material, however, and is hard on equipment unless it is cleaned before use, an expensive proposition. Hyperion has backed off that claim and now says that water sources will be evaluated on a site by site basis.
Hyperion Resources, Inc., has not been especially forthcoming about the details of its project. Its website changes frequently as its claims are challenged by experts. Please follow this issue closely. Hyperion’s website can be found at http://www.hyperionec.com/.
Karen Hall
Environmental Engineer
8 years of refining experience
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Posted on Thursday, January 3, 2008
by
Todd Epp
in Economy, Energy/Gas Prices, Gorilla Project
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9 Comments
Todd Epp
in Economy, Energy/Gas Prices, Gorilla Project
|
9 Comments
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Reader Comments (9)
she claims that Hyperion originally asserted that it would recover carbon dioxide emitted from its stacks and, using the process of carbon sequestration, store that CO2 underground ground.
I don't believe that's true based on what i've heard about this project.
she's saying someone from hyperion made this claim ?
First of all, if the South Dakota Peace and Justice Center told me the sky was blue, I'd step outside to check.
And even if you assumed all this was true, what would you rather do? It's just not possible--at least in the foreseeable future--to produce sufficient clean energy without some downsides. Would you rather ride a bicycle? With no new refineries in 30 years, our energy policy is a train-wreck waiting to happen.
It's time to pull our heads out of the environmental wacko sand and get back to a sane energy policy.
How about the other facts??? New jobs! Tax dollars!
Is it possible that we are investing in horseshoes as the automobile is about to be built. Or possibly payphone booths now that everyone has a cell phone? Lets face it, electric automobiles and hydrogen power is right around the corner.
http://elkpointgorilla.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?f=2&start=0
learn alot about refineries here
post your comments too.
She is just trying to sell her novel "Unreasonable Risk," a thriller about sabotage at an oil refinery,
Oh yeah, but it's not about the money. Give me a break
The HYPE Gorilla
It is continually amazing how many people are willing to sell their very soul and see it sacrificed to the 'golden calf' of economic development.
Compared to good health and a healthy crime free environment, money means nothing. Why are there any that would be willing to sell out the entire ecological and social future of their community for a promise of a few dollars?
The Hyperion project truly highlights it all. PT Barnum noted that: “No one ever lost a nickel by UNDER estimating the intelligence of the American public” [accent added] Hyperion virtually is banking on that concept. PLEASE people, research the facts and learn just what you will pay for those few jobs. Don’t look to Hyperion for answers because from the very onset they veil themselves and this project in Hype, secrecy, misinformation, and evasion of the truth. They hold a fat wallet in one hand, and extend the other with a smile. But they aren’t here to shake our hands and be our neighbor, they are here to bind our hands and lead us where they wish to increase the size of their wallet.
THINK:
In terms of the environment, the congestion, the financial demands on intra structure (roads, schools, sewage, water, emergency services, etc.). Will Hyperion pay for these things, or will you?
What about the crime rate increases that is sure to come with an influx of population and foreign workers? Will Hyperion help with that problem?
How many of those who applaud Hyperion have even seen an oil refinery, let alone lived near one? Hyperion will be the second largest in the country and dwarfs others. It will use Canadian oil sand that is more polluting than any other oil.
Oil sand has not been used before, because it is too polluting and environmentally unsound. Do we want America's breadbasket and our community to be the testing station for this?
Hyperion is already having finance issues and is seducing the government to subsidize them. What happens if something runs array (It happened at AGP and Terra locally. It has happened to many other refineries. Hyperion will not be disaster proof.) An explosion at the refinery could potentially kill thousands, level several towns, and leave our farms untellable and environment unsafe for years to come. Hyperion will pass out a few dollars in insurance money, throw us the keys and run like crazy.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A “GREEN REFINERY”! That Hype is like saying that I am only going to give you a ‘friendly’ club in the head with my baseball bat.
Why does Hyperion want to come here? It is not near the oil, or the intended market. It is because this is a community and state that has few environmental laws, and is inexperienced in dealing with these matters, Are we to be conned into accepting their 'Pandora's Box' because it looks pretty. They exist to make money, and are here to exploit our community for it.
There are those who think that Hyperion will bring down gas prices. Can anyone really believe that? Oil and its products are a supply side commodity. There is no breakdown for regional marketing. Hyperion's products will be shipped overseas where the markets are truly developing and sold at the highest price available. We will pay the same price they do, only we will be left with the pollution and other ill effects of its refinement. We will have sold out to empty promises, surrendering our community to the 'golden calf', as Hyperion grows fat on the spoils.
Those who applaud Hyperion seem to be blind to ALL the facts of the situation, except Hyperion's propaganda and promise of a few dollars. There is far too much at stake here.
It is as if we are gambling our home and family against the potential to win a free lunch. Is there any among us who would make that bet? Open your eyes, biting into Hyperion’s HYPE is taking that bet very bet.
I think you people in SD need to get your heads checked.
A 400 tb/d refinery in the middle of the Midwest? Seriously?
We need to talk about fundamentals and anyone with a grain of sense knows that the refining fundamentals in the Midwest are bleak at best for the foreseeable future. With increased ethanol use and more product available from the Gulf Coast, Midwest refiners are already struggling to find an outlet for their products. PADD 2 refining utilization in that area are already some of the lowest in the country at 83% and they continue to drop as gasoline demand declines and more ethanol is blended in.
So knowing that Detroit is closing auto plants would you trust an investor who wants to come and build new ones?
There is an extremely good reason why nobody has built a new refinery in the US for over 30 years. Because we don’t need any new refineries! We need more domestic crude not more refineries to turn crude into products. If Obama or McCain are elected (good chance) either one of their CO2 policies will make the heavy Canadian crude that Hyperion wants to use economically unviable. Brazilian heavy coming on line will easily be cheaper than the Canadian stuff and that will be processed in the Gulf Coast not the Midwest. This refinery will be a bust before the first barrel of oil is ever processed.
Hyperion is taking you suckers for a ride. You people in the Midwest need to stop putting so much faith in these scam artists.
Howdy
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Varocubbano