First New Refinery in Decades

There are only a few operating refineries in the country. The bureaucracy to get a license for such is years and the political environments are very hostile to the development of energy independence -- a stated priority of virtually every politician. With the average cost of gasoline approaching $4 a gallon, that might all be changing.

For the first time since 1976, the International Herald Tribune is reporting that the path is being open for the creation of a new refinery in South Dakota. This is the first new one in this country since 1976 and should have the capacity to produce 400,000 barrels of crude from Canada daily. This will certainly contribute to lower energy prices.

In addition to being good for energy independence, it has the potential of creating almost 5,000 short term jobs in the plant's construction and 1,800 long term jobs for those who will work at the plant once completed. The company, Hyperion Resources, has indicated that those jobs will have an average salary of $20 to $30 an hour. Good paying jobs in a part of the country that needs them.

I, for one, am mainly pleased to simply see that the US is taking some small step in the effort towards energy independence. If you want to call $10 billion, the cost for the project, small. Energy independence, which makes our economy strong, our people prosperous, and our nation more secure from our enemies (who are the biggest beneficiaries of our current energy crisis) needs to be at the top of our nation's priorities. Steps like the opening of this refinery are certainly actions in the right direction.

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Kevin Price is Host of the Houston Business Show (M-F at 11 AM on CNN 650) and Publisher of the Houston Business Review. Hear the show live and online at HoustonBusinessShow.com. Visit the archive of past shows here.