It's time to broaden my horizons

December 17th, 2008
Time to broaden my horizons

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This has been about the most interesting year of my life. I’m surprised that it took me 66 years to get here. Who would have thought that a nickel and dime outfit like Hyperion Resources could get ones blood boiling so much? It is hard to believe that I have been writing articles for the Hometowner every week since the 1st of March, but I have. I went back and read some of those articles and some of them are pretty funny, and some are pretty stupid. I tell you it makes me wonder sometimes if people in the surrounding area really have a clue what is happening here.
I thought about writing a year in review but Dodi doesn’t have enough room in the paper for me to do that. Instead you can go to my blog and read them if you would like. My blog is (old-cranky.blogspot.com). I’ve got all the articles up there and hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them. I will still continue to do my weekly article and try to ride herd on Hyperion, but I’m not sure just how involved I will be.
I have recently been named as the state director for South Dakota, district one for PickensPlan. Since there is only one congressional district in South Dakota, I guess I have the whole state. This has nothing to do with the government or the state of South Dakota; it just identifies the area that I am responsible for. I am going to be recruiting people to join with the T-Boone Pickens organization to actively support alternative energy sources to stop dependency on foreign oil and to accept other ways to conserve energy to stop the “Greenhouse” effect. This is just another way for me to help stop Hyperion. I’m not going anywhere but I will be spending more time in different ways stopping Hyperion from building a refinery in South Dakota. The word about Hyperion needs to be told to everyone in the siouxland area, and the job that I will be doing will be giving me an opportunity to do that. The name T. Boone Pickens carries a lot more weight than Doug Maurstad.
I would ask another favor of all of you and that is that if you want to become a member of the PickensPlan to send me your email address so that I can connect you with a link that will not only increase the size of the opposition to foreign oil but add to the rolls of those who support T-Boones’ plan to lessen dependency on foreign oil. There are currently about 1.4 million people that have signed up to do this and they would like to have a goal of 2 million by inauguration day. My personal goal is to enlist 500 people by then, but I’m confident I can get that many members just in Union County and the surrounding area. There is no money involved in this, I am just asking people to join the reform. If you don’t have an email address, just call me and I will stop by with a sign-up form and just fill it out. My number is 605-957-5193...Remember, this is a twofold front. By endorsing alternative energy you are also continuing to oppose Hyperion. This is a good thing.
If you will remember back to the first article that I wrote for this column, I said that Hyperion has absolutely no intention of building a refinery here. They still have not said they are coming. They won’t say how the oil is going to get here. By the way, I subscribe to a Canadian news service and 2 business papers in Canada and they are all saying that companies are halting production in the Tar Sands. Some of them are going broke and are prime for a leveraged buyout. With oil down to $40 a barrel and below, it might be a long time before Hyperion can get the ball rolling. I would think the option period on the land will have passed, so they will either have to buy it or let it go. We can only hope they decide to cut and run back to Texas. Unless they can get some investors for the long term, money is just too tight to be spending it on a wish and a prayer. I am guessing, but I think for Hyperion to buy all the land they have optioned, it is going to cost them over $15 million. That is about half of what Hyperion’s net worth is, so I don’t see them spending that much money just for land. I don’t think in their wildest dreams they expected the economy to be where it is today, let alone the price of oil. If you remember last July, it was $147 and today is $40. So much for Hyperion and the refinery.
To learn more about what the PickensPlan is and what its goals are, go to PickensPlan.com and there is a wealth of information available. The plan’s main emphasis right now is reducing dependency on foreign oil by converting 18 wheelers to run on natural gas rather than diesel. Maybe it is because Pickens owns half the supply of natural gas. (just joking) The big thing about my being part of PickensPlan is that it will gain more exposure in the Siouxland area. It seems to me that the word is getting out to a limited audience, and I want the whole world to know that we don’t want Hyperion to build a refinery in South Dakota. Please call me and I will come, email me and I will submit your name to the main collection point. This is a WIN-WIN situation, so please take advantage of it.
In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."

--Theodore Roosevelt,
26th president of the U.S