Rumors Abound

Sept 9th, 2009
Rumors Abound
Well, now that we know that Hyperion did not renew its options on 6000 acres, what’s next? I’ve heard so many rumors about who did and who did not get their options renewed, you need a book to keep track. It depends on what you’ve heard which theories Hyperion is going to use.
The most frequent rumor I’ve heard about the options is that everything south of Hwy 50 and everything west of the Spink road was let go. I guess this means that Hyperion is circling the wagons. It also means that everything we’ve heard to this point is meaningless, which means Hyperion doesn’t have a clue.
The biggest tale we’ve heard from Hyperion since the beginning is that they will build a 500 acre “recreation” center down by the river. This will be used for boating, swimming and recreational sports. It will enhance the wildlife by beautiful wetlands for them to breed. This artificial lake will be where the treated water will be returned to the Missouri river by percolating back into the river and the aquifer. They have been saying this since day one, and now we hear that of the 6000 acres released, all the land south of Hwy 50 has not been optioned for another year. What happened to the lake? What happened to the method of returning the treated waste water back to the river? Your guess is as good as mine. From what I’ve heard the only land left is 59 acres that belongs to Suzanne Hanson. We won’t know until those that have had their options released file with the register of deeds. I am willing to bet that the Register of Deeds office is going to be the most popular spot in Union county for the next few weeks.
This much I do know about the options. 13000 acres have been filed with the Register of Deeds. So if and when someone wants to sell, mortgage or otherwise do something with their land they will have to file the release with the county before they can do anything with it. Unless of course it was never filed in the first place, which I doubt because of how many acres have been filed. All this will come out in the wash. It is like waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Remember when all the rumors were going around when this first started? Now it is happening in reverse. I hear people talk about how long it took the refinery in Arizona to get its permits and everything approved. It was almost 9 years. The difference here is that they optioned the land, then there was a lawsuit by the Native American tribes in Arizona, then they turned back the options and purchased land to build the refinery and started the process all over again. Hyperion doesn’t have the luxury of waiting for 9 years to build this refinery because their options expire next year. They have 18 months from the time the permit is issued to begin construction. It is decision time for them because when the options go out, the price of the land goes up. The state can grant them an extension on the air permit for 18 months, but that doesn’t do them any good unless they purchase the land. I guess you call this being between a rock and a hard place.
I wish I could remember the term that Preston Phillips used when he said they didn’t have to use any loan or credit dollars to build this refinery. They had the necessary capital in place. Now if you believe that, you are nuttier than he is. If they had the money, they wouldn’t have released the 6000 acres and they would have purchased the other 6000. They want to get this thing built, but for some strange reason they can’t close the deal with any potential buyers.
When I said this was like waiting for the other shoe to drop, I was referring to the people that had their options renewed. I sure hope they weren’t silly enough to go spend this “promised” money because next year at this time, it is going to be all over. I think they might be getting a little bit nervous. Would you like to sit around for a whole year not knowing what was going to happen next? You can’t believe anything Hyperion says, because none of it is happening they said it would.
If they build it, as Eric Williams said in his press release last week, now it will be built to the most economic commercial standards. What happened to BACT? What happened to GREEN? What happened to the “Transparency” they said they would maintain. In South Dakota, your word is your bond. I guess they haven’t learned that in Texas yet.
I wish I could talk to some of the people who didn’t get their options renewed and see just how they feel about Hyperion now. Do you think you may eventually come around to our way of thinking that this is a bad deal or are you not going to be willing to talk to me for fear of being ridiculed for their decision to make some easy money? I can’t sympathize with them however I can empathize with them because of what they did. I don’t think at this point and time they want to talk about it so let’s just let it lie. I can assure them though that I will listen to them. I don’t wish anything bad on these folks; I just wish they had thought things out a little bit more before they signed the papers. If you do want to talk to me, my cell number is (605) 957-5193. If you would like to email me, my email address is maurtura@gmail.com. l would really like to talk to you and I promise I am a good listener and I will never say anything about this without your permission. I have ethics, credibility and integrity. I will never leave those standards.