Hyperion asks to extend land options for refinery

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SIOUX FALLS (AP) — Officials with a company that wants to build a $10 billion oil refinery in southeastern South Dakota are asking for help from landowners while it fights legal challenges.

Hyperion Refinery is asking Union County landowners to extend purchase options indefinitely. The company currently holds those land options through August 2013.

Hyperion Vice President Preston Phillips wrote in an Aug. 18 letter to landowners that the change would extend the final option period in the contract as long as there are lawsuits against the project.

The Sierra Club, Save Union County and Citizens Opposed the Oil Pollution say Hyperion should not have been issued an air quality permit for the project.

The refinery would process 400,000 barrels of Canadian crude a day into various fuels.

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