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“It’s over,” said Deb Karpen, wife of Union County Commission Chairman Doyle Karpen as soon as the final tally was known. But that may just be wishful thinking. A Hyperion official told the media, that even with the vote favoring them, Union County is still just one site of about 30 in seven states his company is looking at for their oil refinery and power plant. “The vote tonight was the first critical hurdle,” said Phillips at a Hyperion celebration at the home of Joyce Bortscheller in Elk Point. “The other is the air quality permit,” which Hyperion officials hope to have issued by the end of this year. “That’s what we’ll focus on,” he said. “And then we’ll continue to work with the community to do everything we can to maximize the benefits of the project.” Phillips said he felt with nearly a 16-percent lead in the final tally, that Hyperion had a landslide victory. “I think those numbers are a testament that we have overwhelming support in the county,” said Phillips. “It’s a complex project. There’s a lot of information, and we’ve continually seen when people get the real facts about the project, the information they need, once they get a chance to ask questions about the project and get their concerns addressed, then we have overwhelming support.” “I think it’s important to note that the majority of voters in Union County supported this project without Dakota Dunes,” he said. Before Dakota Dunes’ votes were added to the tally, the percentage was 52.68 percent for Hyperion. “One of the reasons we’ve been so successful here is that Hyperion has always done what it’s said it was going to do,” said Phillips. “We’re committed to being a good corporate citizen, a good community neighbor. We’re going to continue to work with everyone in Union County to maximize the benefits of the project.” “We’re just ecstatic,” said Phillips. “Obviously we were disappointed in the overall outcome,” said Save Union County LLC spokesperson Ed Cable at his home the night of the election. “We felt we would do better in Elk Point and some of the other communities. We knew Dakota Dunes would be a challenge.” “We expected to have a larger plurality going into North Sioux and Dakota Dunes.” “But it didn’t go that way,” he said. “This is the day they come to vote, and no other day counts.” “We will continue to resist their air permit application and all other permit applications that they make,” said Cable. “We will also vigorously attempt to win the lawsuit we have filed in circuit court. We will also resist and/or delay all of their subsequent federal applications which will be forthcoming we expect shortly.” “If there is to be a victory seen here, it is that this is far from a mandate that they have been predicting,” said Cable. “It is not a mandate at all for Hyperion’s proposal, and they should view this as Step No. 3 in a 100-step process. It will get more and more difficult as more people learn about their proposal.” “There was 68 percent voter turnout,” said Commission Chairman Doyle Karpen. “I was hoping the turnout would have been a little larger. I was hoping for 75 percent but 68 percent is a good number.” “I’m glad people came out to vote,” he said. “It was an important thing.” Now it’s up to Hyperion, he said. Hyperion’s next step is to secure a multitude of environmental state and federal permits. With only 58 percent of the voters casting votes for Hyperion, how are you going to bring the county back together? The Akron Hometowner asked Doyle, who was one of those leading the county in supporting Hyperion Refining LLC since the first hint of the project. “That’s the $100,000 question,” said Doyle, explaining it’s just like the conversation he had with resident Doug Maurstad at the Save Union County rally on May 31. “As we talked, our discussion led down to people had a right to vote...What I took away from that conversation is we had to agree to disagree. I think what will help us is if the people can agree to disagree on this project and hopefully the healing can begin.” “It’s going to be a long road,” said Doyle. “It’s not going to be easy but I hope it can begin now.” “I hope everybody can come together,” said Dennis Hultgren of rural Alcester, who supported Hyperion Refining LLC. When you take a stand, it causes division, he said, adding he has family members who refuse to talk to him now. “I work hard for what I believe in,” said Hultgren. “I expected the “yeses” would have the win,” said Hultgren, adding, “(in the area where he lives) it was pretty overwhelmingly against it. But even here with that, 25 percent voted ‘yes.’” “I just feel now that it’s passed,” said Hultgren, “evidently, the county is favorable to it.” Usually when an election is over, you walk over to the other side and accept your loss, he said. “It doesn’t appear that some of these people are going to accept their loss. They are going to fight it in court and fight it every way they can...That’s certainly their privilege but as far as I’m concerned, the election is over.” “Everything else has to be handled by those who are opposed or by Hyperion because there is nothing the voters can do -- they’ve done all they can,” he said. “I just hope we can try to get along a little bit,” said Hultgren, “but maybe it’s not going to happen.”