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Quasqui notes

“No matter the size of the buffer zone (of an oil refinery), is it safe to say that there will always be some type of air pollution, water pollution and land pollution?” a Union County resident asked Denny Larson, executive director of Global Community Monitor, who was the presenter at the Save Union County organization’s first educational workshop July 5 regarding the Gorilla Project and the impact an oil refinery would have on Union County. “Absolutely,” said Larson. “Particularly, air pollution that will have an impact on neighbors for miles around?” she asked. “Sure,” said Larsen, explaining that there were complaints from people living 40 to 50 miles away from a documented oil refinery “incident” in the San Francisco Bay area. “Depending on the pollutant, the chemicals can travel from just across the (refinery’s) fence line to hundreds of miles.” Even daily emissions from refinery smoke stacks are regulated as pollution, said Larson, who has 23 years of experience working with

oil refineries and the people who live near oil refineries. “There are some real problems in refinery neighborhoods,” said Larson, who has been actively working in oil refinery reform since 1995. “We have been making some progress in different parts of the country to try to make the air a little cleaner, the water a little cleaner and environmental quality better. We’ve been trying to make these refineries greener.” With Texas-based Hyperion Resources Inc. announcing their plans to create a

“green energy center” oil refinery northwest of Elk Point and just south of Spink on about 5,000 acres of land, Larson told the approximately 135 people who attended this workshop, “I’d like nothing more than to see something like that happen. I’d like to see that replicated at the 140 oil refineries we already have.” What is “green refinery?” “What is a ‘green’ oil refinery?” asked Larson.

“That’s a pretty new term.

organization regarding how much a mile buffer zone would buy people in the way of safety should there be a chemical release of a toxic cloud of hydrogen sulfide or something revealed that a mile from the facility buys people 17 minutes to evacuate or take shelter at their homes. People need to also consider how far is needed to avoid the smell of an oil refinery? What distance is needed as a safety zone from a catastrophic chemical release?, he said. In another study conducted at the Philadelphia, Penn., oil refinery area, it showed that over a 30-year period, the population dramatically decreased in the neighborhoods around the refinery. Immediately downwind of the facility is now a ghost town, said Larson, adding that there has been a population decrease of between 3,000 and 10,000 people. Another study comparing students’ absenteeism with oil refinery “upsets” and “flare-ups” showed the day after such an incident, the absentee rate was higher at nearby schools. “(Oil refining) is dangerous,” said Larson. “It’s dangerous to your health. It’s dangerous to the environment.” He quoted a U.S. House of Representatives Investigative Division person as saying in 1999, “The oil refinery industry is the single largest source of benzene emissions and one of the largest sources of air pollutants in the United States. Their toxic emissions are found to cause cancer, neuro-toxicity, reproductive toxicity, increase respiratory disease, decrease lung function and cause premature death.” Benzene is always present in refineries, he said. It’s one of the main components of gasoline and other products. It’s only one of 10 chemicals classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Center for Disease Control as a Class A carcinogen. It causes a specific cancer – leukemia. Studies have shown clusters of children born with birth defects whose parents lived around a refinery. “In particular, pollution around refineries affects the most sensitive people: children, pregnant mothers, elderly and people who are already sick,” said Larson, adding these health problems are documented and one would think it wouldn’t be hard to get things changed. Doctors either aren’t trained in toxic exposure or it’s hard to get a doctor to stand up to the really powerful oil refinery people. “These toxic chemicals interfere with your body’s ability to operate healthy,” said Larson, then quoted a Harvard Medical School study, “Petroleum refineries present a major health hazard for human communities living near refineries and for the marine and terrestrial ecosystems where they are situated.” A gentleman told the crowd that Union Grove State Park, just north of the proposed oil refinery site, has a good ecosystem at this time with lichens and moss, which require oxygen to grow. If these plants start dying, it would be a sign of air pollution. Is an oil refinery going to fit here or will it not only kill the lichens but also ruin the agriculture here such as the quality of corn crops? asked Larson. What do residents need to do? “You’d better be ready to crack the books because you are all going to have to be experts,” he said. “You’re going to have to learn Refinery 101...so you know

how to ask the right questions. It’s a lot to learn and you’ve got to ask the right questions because the answer to those questions is the devil in the details. That’s going to tell you how green it is.” “There is an answer there,” said Larson. “It’s an engineering equation. It’s a chemical equation. It’s

not magic. It’s pretty simple: A + B = C and what about D and where does that go.” “You’re going to have to have your own War Room,” said Larson, telling about a man who has lived about two miles from an oil refinery for 40 years. That man has a War Room, complete with weather station and ham radio operation. About 10 years ago, he lost a lung as a result of the particles he consumed and breathed. “He’s had to get wired to prove what’s happening to him because you can’t count on the EPA or these agencies to protect you when it comes to the oil industry. Gasoline is so important to us, and that’s just the facts.” He spoke of “bucket brigades” where residents living near oil refineries take 5-gallon plastic buckets and collect their own air samples for testing because air pollution is not well monitored. “You have to have your own buckets to test the air or you’re going to be told there’s not a problem with what you’ve been breathing, that it didn’t hurt you,” said Larson. Not only does Larson’s company work with people around the world who are dealing with oil companies and oil refinery projects, but they are shareholders in the Shell Oil Company. “I own stock in Shell because I want to try to change them from inside,” said Larson. “I want to go to their shareholders’ meetings and let them know we are watching and we’re reporting to the people. We do talk to these (oil companies’ personnel) so I know what I’m talking about when I’m talking about getting oil companies to clean up their act and do things right.” “It’s not easy,” he said. “I’m not kidding you.”

He noted a case involving Shell in Ireland. When Irish farmers reported Shell employees for trespassing on their land, the farmers were jailed for 94 days – even though they and the Irish government had not given Shell authority to create an oil refinery. “Ireland is a democracy like the United States,” said Larson. “We’re running out of oil, running out of these resources and companies are getting more desperate.” Shell was awarded for the fifth year in a row, the “Most Sustainable Oil Company in the World,” said Larson, “but they are still jailing farmers who won’t let (oil company) people on their land.” He noted that South Dakota has no air, water or land pollution standards for oil refineries like states that have oil refineries. Union County residents will have to rely

on the National Environmental Planning Act, which has a lot of limitations in it. “The permitting process is a very technical process,” said Larson, explaining that the environmental studies will be created during Hyperion’s permitting process. “You’re going to have to find your own experts out there to help you with the very technical process,” said Larson. “At best, it’s a flawed process where the proponents of the facility are holding a lot of the cards and have lawyers and consultants and the ability to come in and generate a lot of paper and make things look really good.” “It’s a difficult process for you to participate in, get your opinions well heard and acted upon,” said Larson. “It can be a fairly long process and a tiring process.” Why opposition to refineries? After the 90-minute presentation, a news reporter summed up Larson’s presentation as total opposition. “I think we presented people with factual information that crude oil refining can be a dirty and dangerous process and that if this is really a green refinery project, then we need the details from Hyperion to prove that because it flies in the face of every other operating refinery in the world, the U.S. EPA, and health officials and anything in my experience,” responded Larson. On June 28 of this year, Citgo Petroleum Corporation was found guilty of failing to cover gigantic tanks of waste oil that were leaking benzene, which is linked to causing cancer, into surrounding neighborhoods and killing migratory birds that flew into them. The oil company had fought with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 10 years before a verdict was given. Larson quoted from Citgo attorney Dick DeGuerin’s defense testimony, “Refineries are smelly and dirty and I wouldn’t live by one” “So, you don’t have to believe me,” said Larson. “You don’t have to believe an agency. Listen to what the oil industry says about living next to an oil refinery.” Experience with Hyperion? “Do you know if (Hyperion officials) are environmental friendly and honest?” asked a man in the audience. “I don’t know anything specifically about the people from Hyperion,” said Larson, adding some are reportedly former Marathon Oil executives. “I’d be happy to put you in touch with people who live next to Marathon Oil refineries. You can talk to them yourselves.” “I can tell you I’ve listened to them and they’re not very happy with Marathon,” he said. “I’d be very pressed to identify any refinery neighbor that I’ve ever met who’s happy with living next to an oil refinery.” “The ones who are happy are the ones who got bought out at a fair price and are moving somewhere else,” said Larson, adding they aren’t really good neighbors except for one – Fredericia, Denmark, where local officials made sure the oil company plant manager lives at the fence line. “It’s the cleanest refinery I’ve ever seen,” said Larson. “If you want to pass one local regulation in Union County that’s guaranteed to make it a green refinery, it’s that sucker lives right on the fence line. I guarantee it’ll be a lot cleaner.” Alternative Options “You’re saying no matter how modern, state-of-art, clean and green, just because it’s an oil refinery, it can’t be that?” asked another news reporter. “That’s what the science and facts tell us now,” said Larson, “and until Hyperion proves to us otherwise on how they are going to make an oil refinery non-polluting, it’s pretty hard to believe because the facts do not support that. They have not provided one single factual basis for their statement.” “So they say it’s not going to smell and you say it is?” asked the reporter. “I would say show me a refinery that doesn’t,” said Larson, “and I’ll go there and take a whiff. Talk is cheap but show me one that doesn’t and show me how you’re going to do that. I’m willing to listen.” He noted there were engineers who had designed systems to reduce odors and pollutants but “I find very few oil companies willing to implement a single one of those recommendations, even though many of them would save them money. That troubles me.” If Hyperion has a plan to do so, then they need to share the details, Larson added. “With Hyperion saying they are going to build an oil refinery here but you saying they have nothing here – no infrastructure, is there something else they could use the land for such as a waste dump?” asked another reporter. “I think the good thing and I’m really trying to think positive,” said Larson, “because I really like this area. The one good thing about this project and the fact that

Hyperion has talked about doing something that is a green energy center is let’s take them up on that because that is possible.” “I’m not sure it’s possible with a crude oil refinery,” he said, “but I think we could have a really good economic development engine here that would use clean, green

energy and provide it to all kinds of people. That is possible.” Larson explained those kinds of things were happening in California with the governor’s and voters’ support. “We are putting in a billion solar

panels in San Francisco alone this year,” said Larson. “That is possible. We have startup companies making those solar panels and making clean and green energy in a very nonpolluting way and making products that produce it. That is very possible.” “Why not get on the band wagon

and use this land for something that really is green and won’t interfere with the existing character,

beauty and sustainable agriculture that you have here now?” said Larson. “Can’t those things be

discussed?” “That part of it I think we ought to take them up on since they have optioned some land,” said Larson. “Let’s hold them to the green part, okay? And keep green what you’ve got and see if it’s compatible.” The crowd applauded. How do you stop Hyperion? When asked how do you stop them from coming, Larson said, “I don’t stop them from coming. That’s up to (Union County residents).” He encouraged residents to work with the Save Union County Committee and for people to share their concerns with people who are considering selling their land to Hyperion. To Union County residents considering selling their land, he strongly recommended they seek legal advice and think about this stuff. “It’s not only a big change for you but for all your neighbors,” he said.

“I think we need to educate people on what a refinery really is,” said Larson, whose company works internationally with people who live near existing refineries and/or are facing the possibility of an oil refinery in their neighborhood. Currently, they are working with Makoti Indian Reservation residents and people in Yuma, Arizona, where oil companies are trying to build new refineries. “(We also need) to start talking up some of the alternatives that might be more compatible,” he said, explaining his organization also works with oil companies. Last year, they helped negotiate an agreement with Shell regarding an expansion in Port Arthur, Texas. “We got involved in the permitting process,” said Larson. “We had some disagreements with some of the things they were going to do... but we worked out an agreement.” The agreement included some “greener” options such as covering the wastewater system, installing many control systems and establishing a $3 million foundation to help deal with some of the health problems people face near a refinery. “To do that, we basically had to block their permit,” said Larson. “They wouldn’t listen to us until we blocked their work so we do work out things with (oil companies) but they only seem to listen when you put a gun to their head or a road block in front of their truck in the legal system. I think that’s unfortunate but that’s my experience.” “You folks who live here, that is your decision (about whether an oil refinery should be built),” said Larson. “You need to really examine this and get more facts.”

More information is needed from Experion before a decision can be made about its compatibility with the proposed Union County site, said Larson. Comments afterwards “I was in favor of this until I

heard (Larson),” said Rita Iacino, a Vermillion real estate agent. “I thought it would be good for property values. I thought it would bring jobs to the area but I think it’ll ruin property values. I think it’ll ruin our way of life and our health and everything we value here.” “The Sierra Club is very concerned about the Missouri River, protecting one of the last natural stretches of the river,” said Northwest Iowa Sierra Club Groups Conservation Chairman Jim Redmond. “It’s going to be highly impacted by this type of operation.” “We’ve been pushing for renewables and reductions in energy use such as relying on public transit,” he said. “This thing just guarantees we will have more oil exploited and sent into the atmosphere so we’re against this in a number of ways.” “The most important part of this meeting (regarded) the publication of a green refinery,” said Redmond. “This dispelled that these people are making this up. The people don’t have the resources to really turn it into a green refinery. Until they come up with some factual data that it’s possible, we ought to hold them accountable for their false claims.” “Having these great hopes of a green refinery, there is just so little chance that they are going to be able to do it,” he said. “Another thing they talked about is infrastructure. The quality of life is just going to go.” “How much will the State of South Dakota and other government agencies put infrastructure in order for Hyperion to make a profit?” asked Redmond. “What is Hyperion going to do about the burial and sacred sites along the river?” asked Plymouth County Indian Advisory Chairman Robert Knuth, explaining there are 200 to 300 burial sites and sacred sites along the Missouri River near the proposed Hyperion Resources Inc. oil refinery. “I’m here today asking and pleading with Native peoples from the tristate area to help out with your organization today so that we can work together as one people with one heart and one mind to get a good understanding of this.” Editor’s Note: Even though this workshop was open to the public, no Union County commissioners, Planning & Zoning members, Elk Point city or Elk Point Economic Development Corporation officials were present. However, there were Hyperion representatives present but they didn’t speak.