Denny Larson of the Refinery Reform Campaign gave two presentations to crowds of about 150 each in Vermillion on Wednesday. Mr. Larson started the Refinery Reform Campaign in 2001 in an attempt to help create awareness about some of the environmental impacts caused by refineries. Larson himself has been an advocate for refinery issues since 1984.
Larson realizes that oil refineries are a fact of life in a modern society, but he does question the creation of a new refinery in rural Union County in an area that has no infrastructure for such a project. Mr. Larson went on to point out that the area lacks the necessary rail lines, power supplies, roads, housing, hospitals, jails, etc. to handle a project of this magnitude.
Larson went on to point out some of the pollution concerns that arise from a having a refinery in the local area. Refining is an intensive and dirty process and Larson drew comparisons between the proposed refinery and refineries that are currently in existence. Current refineries of a similar size to the Hyperion Gorilla refinery such as the Exxon refinery at Baytown, TX emit millions of pounds of pollutants every year. These pollutants are released to the air, land and water.
During his presentation Mr. Larson also pointed out that much of the reporting for pollution is conducted by the refiners themselves. He equates this to the concept of relying on drivers to stop themselves and write their own ticket when they go over the speed limit. Checks by outside agencies are very rare averaging only about 1.2 checks every two years.
The impact to the social fabric was also pointed out. Larson said we can expect an influx of service businesses spring up to cater to the construction and refinery workers. We will likely see the introduction of combination check cashing/payday loan/pawn shop/liquor stores.
Larson went on to question the need for a new refinery when the American Petroleum Institute has stated that the industry is adding the equivalent of 200,000 barrels per day of refining capacity current expansions. This trend has been occurring for the last decade and is expected to continue. This is similar to the current situation with farmers, as there are fewer now than 30 years ago but they are much more productive.
As for Hyperion’s claims that the Gorilla refinery will be the first “green” refinery, Larson says that without seeing the data for how the refinery will be built, it is impossible to make any predictions as to what the emissions will be. |
