PUC Has No Authority over Refineries

Public Utilities Commission Chairman Gary Hanson makes an interesting discovery: the PUC has no statutory authority over refineries. The PUC still has a say on all the pipelines and power lines that will run in and out of any refinery that Hyperion or other interested parties may build, as well as the power plant Hyperion has included in its Elk Point plans, but apparently authority over permits for the refinery itself resides wholly with the Union County Commission.

Now if our legislators were sharp, they could tack an emergency amendment onto some bill to rectify this regulatory oversight and grant some authority over refineries to the PUC. I have a feeling, though, that such an amendment isn't high on the agenda of any of Big Oil's friends in Pierre....