the chickens are coming home to roost

<$BlogMetaData$>The chickens are coming home to roost.


In my continual searching for news about the Hyperion refinery I am really encouraged by the results that public opinion is finally finally turning around. People are starting to figure out what we have been saying for over 4 years that this is a ‘never going to happen’ venture by Huddleston.

In the SCJ Hyperion blog last week, all comments were negative about Hyperion and people who were signing the blogs were folks that in the past have always been sure that they were coming. Now it looks like they are starting to have serious doubts about it. Well DUH. I wonder what part of this pipe dream they didn’t understand before. Do you suppose they are coming to the realization that this is just another lost cause on the part of Mr. Huddleston?

The biggest part that people still don’t understand is that the 1800 permanent jobs has never been about making more jobs, it is just shuffling people from a job in one place to a job with Hyperion. The only thing was is that it would be leaving someone holding the short end of the stick. Not that many people would be moving here, they would just be changing how far they have to drive to get to work. It doesn’t take rocket science (I’m getting tired of that term) to figure out what is happening. Ask yourself how many people moved here when gateway was going full blast? At their peak, they employed somewhere around 5,000 to 6,000 people; most of them from the local area. What makes people think Hyperion would be any different? Other than the fact they would need people with specialized skills, of which I’m sure people in this area have. Would you leave the security you have now for a job of uncertainty with Hyperion? I sure wouldn’t, but then what do I know?

There was a letter to the editor in the Argus leader last Saturday from a lady traveling through Kansas and stopped to fill gas. She asked one of the employees there why the price of gas was so high when there was a refinery right there in town. The person replied that all the gas produced by this company was being exported to Italy and that none of the gas stayed locally. Again, this is what would happen here if the refinery came here. Gas goes on the commodities market and is sold to the highest bidder. Do you think for one minute Al Huddleston gives a rip about people in this area? He is from Texas and is out to make a killing and it is going to come at our expense. This isn’t any different from any other refinery. Another statement in that letter was that one of Obama’s richest supporters in the last election was just given a billion dollar loan to build a refinery in Brazil. NowTHAT gas might make its way back to the United States. This is how the oil game is played. Big refineries don’t care how far or who the gas goes to. They just worry about profit margin. Do you wonder why the price of oil dropped almost $10 a barrel last week? The refineries have a glut on gas because people are starting to conserve because they are being forced to with the high cost. Now the price is starting to come down because there is an excess. Who can figure this out? I know I can’t. I do know this; we are still being played for suckers and it is going to cost us dearly in the long run.

I got a reply from the state of South Dakota DENR last week on a letter that I submitted during the open question period for Hyperion’s Air Permit. Instead of addressing my question I got the whole 9 yards, and it still didn’t say anything that hadn’t already been said before. They still won’t answer or acknowledge that they made a mistake. Governor Daugaard stated in the news last week that he would cut the red tape to ensure this refinery is going to be built. Ex-Governor Rounds said the same thing and it still hasn’t been started. Does that mean ‘damn the torpedoes; full speed ahead.’ He is ignoring our objections to this to ensure “economic progress” for the state. Again, it cost the state mucho dinero to send me a response to my letter. I don’t know why they took the time and expense to send this out. They could have done this with a one page letter. “We are ignoring your questions and are going to build this thing whether you like it or not, so get used to it.”

To use another euphemism, I think the worm is starting to turn, and the chickens are starting to come back to their nest. Public opinion does win sometimes, so let’s hope this is one of them.