Senator looks to plunge stake in heart of decades old vampire water project

Sen. Erin Tobin is on mission to end project once and for all

PIERRE – For more than four decades, the Gregory County Pumped Storage Project has lurked in the background of this south central South Dakota county, menacing nearby landowners.

Originally conceived as a creature of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the project has been like a vampire: alive, to the fear of some locals, and then dead. Then alive, and dead again. Vampire like.

Its most recent revival came when MidAmerican Energy and Missouri River Energy Services sought to jumpstart the project – but eventually abandoned it last year because, as decades of research suggested, it was not feasible.

Still, the project haunted the state priority list of major water projects.

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