Hyperion finally confirms what many South Dakotans have suspected from day one: Hyperion is banking on TransCanada's Keystone tar sands oil pipeline for its supply. Bob Mercer reports that Hyperion VP Preston Phillips skipped a permit hearing with South Dakota's Board of Minerals and Environment yesterday. His Dallas lawyer Rick Addison told our public officials that Phillips was instead attending a meeting with officials from TransCanada.
I might cry arrogance... but when Hyperion officials know they have South Dakota's public officials in their back pocket, I guess they really don't need to waste their time showing up at public hearings to explain themselves and can focus on the really hard sell with fellow businesspeople who might be more inclined to recognize there is no business case for the Union County refinery. That lack of business case probably has more to do with Hyperion's failure to start building this year and its need for a permit extension than the down economy that Hyperion blames.