Behind the 8 ball

July 22nd, 2009
Behind the 8 ball
I know I said last week it looked like I was flip-flopping on issues when I was writing these articles, but I for the life of me can’t figure out how to write bad news without sounding like a defeatist. Help me out here.
On the same day that we finished the contested hearing in Pierre, the State Supreme Court threw Ed Cable’s lawsuit out. Now get this. They said that he isn’t going to be affected any worse than anyone else when the HEC is built. Does that mean that instead of Ed dying from pollution, we all get to? So the court threw the case out. Go figure.
The last day of the hearing was Wednesday, and I’ve been told that the board adjourned after 3 hours after hearing witnesses trying to defend that Elk Point and the HEC are not in the Missouri Valley. Somebody can’t read a topography map. Besides that, they couldn’t accurately find Sioux City, Elk Point and Sioux Falls. And these are the people that are going to approve the damned permit! What a Country huh? I hope none of your geography teachers taught you that you lived in the Missouri Valley, cause evidently the valley changes course at Vermillion. I wonder if they can find Vermillion on the map.
You know folks; you should drop into Spink on Saturdays from 10-2. There are really some interesting conversations about Hyperion etc…you know the kind, so and so was talking to so and so and this is what is happening. Well, I know so and so and he is telling the truth. Well, I know so and so and he wouldn’t know the truth if it hit him in the head. I’m telling ya, you gotta come over and join in the festivities. Besides, there is news once in awhile that I hear and I check it out to see if it is true or not, and by golly more often than not, it is. You know the old saying; if you hear it from one person its gossip, but if you hear it from 2 people it’s the gospel. It’s all fun and I’ve really met some nice people. Come on over and enjoy yourself. You might even go home with a few vegetables or one of my rain barrels. It makes the time go by pretty fast.
You know how the men are; we stand around and pontificate a lot. Hyperion hasn’t got the money. Hyperion hasn’t got the backers. What are they going to do when it comes time to renew options this year? Cap and Trade will be the nail that nails the coffin shut. Hyperion has to get in line for credits because they aren’t even an oil company. The competition doesn’t want to see this thing built and they have 1000 times more money than Hyperion ever thought of. Where are they going to get all the workers? Conoco Phillips has 4000 of them tied up fixing the Port Arthur facility. See how this works ladies. We’ve got it all solved so we don’t have anything to worry about.
Speaking of pollution, just to prove that pollution won’t kill you, get your barbecue grill out and make sure it is the one that uses charcoal. Set the thing in the middle of the living room and light it. First of all you have to pour lots of fire starter on it so it will get going real good. This is called flaring. Kinda like Hyperion when they have an emergency. They call that a flaring too but it isn’t for a grill. Get these coals real hot just like what they are going to do when they start up the coal fired power plant. Close all the doors and windows and just sit back and kill yourself! DON’T DO THIS; I was just using that example of how bad the pollution will be. I believe they call that carbon monoxide poisoning. And if you don’t think the carbon monoxide is going to be potent coming out of the refinery, just think again.
I’m sure this case will be appealed to the Circuit Court and we can fight it all over again. If someone over in Iowa were to send this information to the Iowa DNR and ask them why they aren’t involved in this we can get it into federal court, then the EPA can step in then it is a whole different ball game. Now the ball is in our court and things will be different. Oh Lordy will things be different!
One just has to wonder what happened that the greed of money outweighs common sense and decency.