Capitalism

Oh, come on now. What's different now from 10 years ago or 100 years ago? If socialism is the option, there wouldn't even be any drilling on the Bakken formation.

So the jobs that we create in this country compared to ZERO when other countries drill don't matter at all????

The oil price is determined b the market price, the oil companies have no control over them.

Way to be a downer you guys. This was such an optimistic article and you come in here complaining about greed and socialism. I'm just glad jobs are being created by a stroke of luck!

If you think that Capitalism is a bad thing, then start paying all my bills.

Did you notice 0% illegals because this kind of work needs LARGE AMERICANS. ( BE ONE ! )

Although we do need a ratio of 5-1 to support the legal workers lifestyle.

If you think that Capitalism is a bad thing, then start paying all my bills.

I'll pay your bills if you did your work, chuckle chuckle, couldn't resist.

"Williston is situated on the Bakken formation, an oil field that some say will produce the biggest boom in North America since the 1960s."

Until Obama places a moratorium on drilling there.

We can't be using our own reserves - it might upset the environmentalists.

Short-term thinking.

Oil is priced on the world market. You can have gusher come in in your back yard and you will still pay $4 per gallon if that is the going rate.

It isn't greed, it is the Government that keeps the prices high by importing our oil from the Middle East. I work in the Oil and Gas industry, and have drilled all over the world. DON'T get up on a pedastal and bash big business, when you obviously have no clue what you are talking about.

We are going to extract these valuable resources just to burn them up in inefficient heat engines? Real smart, America. With our current lifestyle, we will NEVER be energy independent. Ten years from now, this area will be in decline and we will be wishing we had spent the money on renewable resources. Fools.

Obama and the communi...er...Democrats will have to work extra hard to try and spin this into something negative. Why? It will ACTUALLY CREATE AMERICAN JOBS!

This will not help them perpetuate their class-warfare and promote more people to become dependent upon big government and the Democrats, nor will it divert more jobs overseas. The LAST THING they want are more independent, self-sufficient Americans who can take care of themselves.

We have the most fossil fuel energy reserves in the entire World - but Obama and the environmentalists refuse to allow them to be tapped. I guess he thinks it's better to 'redistribute our wealth' to foreigners, most of whom hate us.

Here's the link to proven (economically recoverable) reserves for the World;

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34233

Fossil Fool

We are going to extract these valuable resources just to burn them up in inefficient heat engines? Real smart, America. With our current lifestyle, we will NEVER be energy independent. Ten years from now, this area will be in decline and we will be wishing we had spent the money on renewable resources. Fools.

So do nothing and rely on other countries to drill while creating no jobs here while we come up with viable cost effective fuels. Yeah, great f*cking mentality fool.

No fossil fuel, I don't wish that I threw my money down the toilet called Green Energy; oh, that's right, I already did when Solyndra went belly up. More to come on that front as the "green" industry gets exposed.

It isn't greed, it is the Government that keeps the prices high by importing our oil from the Middle East. I work in the Oil and Gas industry, and have drilled all over the world. DON'T get up on a pedastal and bash big business, when you obviously have no clue what you are talking about.

Speaking of not having a clue what you're talking about, maybe you need to do a little research yourself, genius. In July this year (last month where the numbers are in) We imported 361 million barrels. That's from ALL countries. Of that, only 67 million came from the Persian Gulf.

Half our imported oil comes from Non-OPEC sources. So no, don't try to blame oil prices on the fact we get some oil from there. Rather blame the traders and speculators.

My source?

http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_m.htm

Foosil Fool, why don't you peddle your azz up to Northern Canada, strip off your clothes and live the greeny lifestyle of grazing on the tundra like the Caribu. If not, you whining hypocrite, just walk away from your computer. This story is about jobs and what areas of this country are doing to attract them, not an enviromental and global warming doomsday article.

Way to go North Dakota.

Hey ROY WILSON,

They will suspend oil drilling until the companies do it in a way that does not oil up everything around it. To many times have oil companies neglected the oil pipelines and allowed large spills to happen, and then drag their feet to clean it up and also bitch about the cost of cleaning up their own mess.

So until oil companies start taking a more pro-active stance on their delivery methods and keeping America clean they deserve to be denied oil drilling rights.

I'd bet there's a real estate boom in N.Dakota.

You foolish, it deed creat job opportunity, but it ruin our unique world. We shoud control our population...

Roywea

Last I knew our government wasn't importing oil. The oil companies import oil. Oil is a commodity and thus the price is fixed there. Our government has very little impact on it. They have oil reserves that they release from time to time to ease pricing but it has very little effect.

It's great until the boom ends and all the infrastructure there will be unsustainable as people drift off to find other jobs in another boom town somewhere else in the middle of nowhere. This happened a lot during the gold rush, and towns ceased to exist after the gold veins dried up.

Fossil Fool you need to lose the first part of your name. People that live in small towns and communities often have to drive many miles to work, get food, hospitals, shop etc. How about you riding your bike 30-70+ miles (each way) to do these things? You need to quit buying the garbage the liberals are feeding you. Please learn to think for yourself. We do need to protect our land, water and air, and we do need to be as self sufficient as possible as a country when it comes to energy. Wind and solar power cannot get our vehicles anywhere unless it is through a hurricane or tornado. Please wise up.

Ohh jobs for Americans whoopie, that solves all of our mentality. Never mind the fact that it hurts the environment, never mind it’s a band aid that ends all too soon, never mind the fact that it puts off our renewable energy plans, drill baby drill global warming is just a hoax and all of the jobs in the world wont help reverse or stop the inevitable, because you got a job? Wool any one?

a few facts all should know;

The United States has the largest known oil reserves in the entire world put together; the newest find is in south Texas near eagle pass; it alone has enough oil for the entire country for the next 200 years, the gulf of Mexico has so far been tapped at around 4% of the known reserves, ( why do you think the Chinese, Spain, Brazil are moving the giant rigs into the gulf.

the entire problem is the cartels control, the production, transportation, refinery, and retail sale of petroleum products, ( remember 50% of all petroleum goes into manufacturing goods ,plastic, polyester etc, )

the sherman and clayton anti-trust acts were passed to break up the cartels , they no longer apply, since there are no major American oil company's , they have all been bought up by the big 3, and are all foreign corporations beyond the reach of American laws.

Congress could end this overnight by extending the sherman and clayton act to cover any company that ships oil into the U.S., the chance of that happening is about the same as winning the lottery 3 times in a row !

I agree with you AW, history has told us when there is no oil under oil field, the oil city will become a hollow...

David Jones-4048651

Ohh jobs for Americans whoopie, that solves all of our mentality. Never mind the fact that it hurts the environment, never mind it’s a band aid that ends all too soon, never mind the fact that it puts off our renewable energy plans, drill baby drill global warming is just a hoax and all of the jobs in the world wont help reverse or stop the inevitable, because you got a job? Wool any one?

In case you didn't realize WE NEED JOBS. In case you didn't realize, WE STILL NEED OIL. In case you didn't realize, WE DON'T HAVE A VIABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE TO REPLACE OIL.

Get a f*cking clue

Let me educate everyone. Think of the world and all of its nations as a game and every nation is a player, with some others thrown in because of varying degrees of clout. This would include multi-national corporations, religious institutions, etc. Now say you are the American player, or the US player if you will. Since the end of WWII, we have taken in more of the worlds resources, whether finished products or raw materials, than we have exported. At one point, our basically 5% of the population was using 45% of the worlds goods. Now, if you count the US population, the illegals here, and Canada, since they basically have the same consumer standards as here, we are about 6% of population and still take in over 25% of the worlds goods.

From the perspective of the US player, this makes sense. We use up the worlds resources first, then suddenly find all of this new material. In the end, we will be holding all the cards. Remember, Europe, South Asia, East Asia have been using their resources for many hundreds of years. North and South America are still virtually untapped compared to them, as is Sub-Saharan Africa. If I were the US player, I would not tout my reserves to the world either, and would claim to have very little.

Oil is still worth what Wall Street says it's worth.

FYI, to the freakshows saying this ends in 10 years....

The Bakken itself is expected to last at least 50 years, and there's another formation farther east called either Two Rivers that hasn't even been fully explored yet. There's also the possibility that there is an enormous nat. gas reserve UNDER the Bakken, according to a friend of mine WHO WORKS THERE, and is making well into six-figures as an engineer for one of the oil companies.

So yea, haters. You're wrong.

And I own mineral rights in the middle of the whole thing. GO ME!!!

This makes a LOT of people very, very happy, leave it to the crunchy granola bike riding utopian knuckleheads to ATTEMPT to be a buzz kill.

Fail on that, 10-4.

You Go North Dakota. I reside in the Peoples Republic of New England (PR of Mass), we won't even allow wind farms off the coast of the elite Left (Martha's Vineyard), you know the place, where the Royals of (Kennedy clan) America reside, Billy Clinton and now B.Obama and the other Hollywood elite. They want clean energy but as they say "Not in my Backyard" Go for it ND, hope you guys cash in big time.

Fossil Fool you do realise that you are supporting fossil fuels right now by using your computer and electricity that probably coming from a coal power plant? Or are you contributing to the pollution of the earth with tons of batteries holding the charge from your wind generator and solar panels. At this time renewal power system are not a full time solution for our society so don't be a hypocrite.

Funny how every one gripes and demonizes the oil companies. When the oil companies give us a product (and jobs) that every one uses every day. When it is big government that makes the big majority of the profits on a gallon of gas at the pumps. Read the tax sticker on the side of a gas pump. There's your problem with greed. Where is all the outrage when it comes to government greed?

WeNeedReagan

How many times do you want to see the Gulf of Mexico repeated in your lifetime. Environmentalist are one of the used tea bags favorite boogey men. I am happy that we have a check on the irresponsible oil companies.

You only need to look to Nigeria for an example of what unregulated oil production is capable of doing to the environment and what those of us who want to save our planet are up against.

I think this is great! Why not a "jobs plan" that opens up more areas for drilling with high paying jobs like these as opposed to a "jobs plan" that seeks to stimulate the economy by extending unemployment so people buy more (and create more demand, in theory).

These are REAL jobs, where something of value is produced. Plus, these thousands of new oil employees not only make good money, but they also pay income taxes! See how this works? Instead of taking tax dollars from Joe and giving them to Bob in the form of unemployment, we create a new job for Bob and he pays taxes too... The government gets more money, the deficit is not grown, and unemployment goes down. This is precisely how conservatives would attack unemployment. Lower regulations on oil and gas production to spur growth in this sector, and good paying jobs will be created. It's not all that complicated.

The U.S. government subsidizes petroleum heavily by having some of the lowest taxes on petroleum products like gasoline among developed nations.

Greed, you need to get your brain in gear, you need to get off your lazy butt and find out how much the oil company makes, for prospecting, drilling, extracting and refining the oil into a gallon of gas, and how much the government makes for sitting on their ass, for that same gallon of gas. So the government can subsidize all the lazy ass people in this country suckin it dry. It's those lazy people who are greedy.

Patrick Parker hitchhiked from Yuba City, Calif., to Williston.

Parker is one of hundreds of people living in their cars in the parking lot of the local Wal-Mart.

Who would pick up a hitchhiker with a car?

@Obamanatic.... First off your name says everything anyone needs to know about you. As far as your "How many times do you want to see the Gulf of Mexico repeated in your lifetime." statement is concerned... I would say the answer is every second of every day since the only other option would be for it to disappear.... If I fill in what I am sure you meant to say (how many BP type oil spills do you want to see in the gulf in your lifetime) the obvious, yet unattainable, answer is zero. It is unattainable because reality is a bitch and accidents happen. By the way.... didn't you tree-huggers claim the Gulf would be contaminated by the BP spill for decades to come? Some even claimed the Gulf would never recover. How did that work out for you?

Lee,

Exxon posted profits of 41% in the last quarter. So, why are we subsidizing them again? BP has posted similar numbers. The oil industry is not suffering.

FACT: North Dakota has estimated reserves of 24 billions barrels of oil. Yay!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2011/06/27/tycoon-says-north-dakota-oil-field-will-yield-24-billion-barrels-among-worlds-biggest/

BUT...

24,000,000,000 barrels of oil would supply the world for about 10 months. It would supply the US alone for about 3.5 years.

Also, the stuff in North Dakota costs $50 a barrel to produce. This is opposed to the cheap, easy-to-extract stuff in Texas, Saudi Arabia, Africa, etc. where you drill a hole in the ground and it comes squirting out. The cost-per-barrel of this oil is less than $10. So, as we run out of the cheap stuff and start using more of the expensive stuff, the price of oil is only going to keep going up.

Also, North Dakota's daily oil production is about 450,000 barrels of oil per day currently.

http://www.dailymarkets.com/economy/2011/10/11/amazing-north-dakota-sets-more-new-oil-records-in-august-as-production-doubles-in-only-26-months/

This represents about 2.5% of the United States' daily oil use and about 0.6% of the world's daily oil consumption. So, while the numbers LOOK impressive, it is really a small drop in the bucket in the overall big picture. Plus, as noted above, for every barrel of oil from North Dakota that replaces a barrel of oil from Saudi Arabia, the price of oil will go up.

On the positive side, at least someone somewhere has a job. If the rate of extraction stayed at its current level, it would take over 100 years to deplete the oil reserves, so these jobs should be stable for the foreseeable future.

Oh come on you guys who talk of socialism and Obama etc. This find is great for the USA and great for new jobs and our unemployed and great for ND. New business and employees means more revenue for everyone including the fed, st. and local governments. It is not a function of whether you are a Democrat or Republican. We stopped drilling on the N. Slope because of possible environmental tragedies that might have occurred. We have had our share - BP gulf of Mexico, off the Alaska coast, etc. Remember, Hitler's paradise was called state socialism - the ends justify the means - The government does not own the oil companies (it just gives them hugh tax loopholes) (I own 1.5% of an oil well in N. Montana - I know thank you). Those who call Obama a socialist would call public education, police and fire, our military, public hospitals, etc. socialism. By the way, the government does create jobs. I have many friends who are public employees and their spending of U.S. currency does the same thing as does the spending of private employees.

And, yes the price of oil is determined by international supply and demand - the oil companies have very little to do with it. If you think they do, buy their stock and get rich

@Fossil Fool

Ride a bike fat asses.

Yeah... that's the answer for everyone. If only all of Dell's delivery vehicles had been bikes... you wouldnt have a computer to type your non-sense on.

Chris-2070660 "So until oil companies start taking a more pro-active stance on their delivery methods and keeping America clean they deserve to be denied oil drilling rights."

Ahh, that elusive dream of a perfect world. Just keep sending our hundreds of $Billions to our enemies around the world - they don't seem to be offended by a few tiny oil spills that may kill a few insects, while they ride their Mercedes to the bank

1. This shows that opening up our vast oil resources to drilling will create good jobs.

2. Don't hold your breath waiting for all of the losers who are constantly whining about "no jobs" to suddenly move to beautiful North Dakota.

@ Fossil Fuel:

As most of you little greenies always look like you need one - take a shower and shut tfu! And then go get your daily fix at Starbucks (one of these big, bad, mean corporations) and relax while plunking useless gibberish out on your energy sucking lap top!

WeiserJG

David Jones-4048651

In case you didn't realize WE NEED JOBS. In case you didn't realize, WE STILL NEED OIL. In case you didn't realize, WE DON'T HAVE A VIABLE RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCE TO REPLACE OIL.

Get a f*cking clue

I have many clues, one is just how ignorant you really are.

Don’t forget to ignore the facts like the quadrillions of renewable dollars striking the earth each second from the sun with clean renewable energy.

Wind, tidal,...but we know that technology is way above your pay station.

Or how the world is already 100% solar while the ignorant still lives in the dark ages crying Chicken Little, or how morons who know nothing about science talk the loudest, or how propaganda and big money control every facet of their life while destroying the environment, or how this conversation keeps going for decades while the morons keep pointing out we cant change, but hey, a job is far more important than living and breathing any day, right?

The destruction of this planet is hidden so well so the wool over your eyes wont let you see, but your in the head in the sand says everything is fine and we need a job?

Brilliant speech, considering your IQ?

Get a f*cking clue your self moron.

And save your red herring BS for those who don’t have a clue, like you.

I've been telling folks on the vine this for months. If you want a job go to North Dakota. My son moved there a little over a year ago for work and is doing well.

Yes N & S Dakota, Good jobs in America.

I'm sure there are good, stable jobs there. I am sure that a hard working man needing to feed his family could saddle up and go to North Dakota and do very well for himself. But, one problem - its North Dakota.

(Cue Garth Brooks - Nobody Gets Off in this Town)

It is a frozen, rural to the extreme, wide open wasteland. If you don't mind BITTERLY cold weather, HUGE amounts of snow, and the closest K-Mart being 420 miles away, move to North Dakota. Its like Canada, but it is on this side of the border...

For nearly $100,000. one could do it for a while

David Jones-4048651:

First, the sun doesn't shine 24 hours a day anywhere in the world 365 days a year.

A big part of the problem with developing Solar (I am all in favor of it, by the way) is the same problem with developing our oil reserves, the EPA! There are solar arrays that are sitting idle because it might disturb some sand flea!

In the meantime, we still require a viable energy supply. If we have 100 or so years worth of oil and natural gas then that gives us a workable window to develop an alternative to oil.

As I've said over and over, with the speed of advances in science and technology, if we can't find the solution in 50 years we probably don't deserve to exist as a species anyway...

Finally, as I've also stated, developing our own oil and gas puts BILLIONS of dollars into OUR economy. It also does it without raising taxes on everyone or anyone. Also to the one who said it costs a whopping $50 per barrel to get this oil, I'd say that is 100% better than $100 we are currently buying it for!

If we declared to the world that we would be energy independent in, say, 5 years the cost of imported and domestic oil would drop like a rock. We need to get OUR oil at OUR cost and get the hell out of the commodities market and speculators.

@ SabotAndHeat

"Ride a bike you..." And a bike has rubber tires. And rubber is made from what? And natual rubber is how much cheaper then synthetic? Just goes to show how rampant the ignorance runs in the brain dead fecal-head liberal elite's. Man! Stupid sheep really do come cheap.

I have but one goal (besides saying good for those workers getting the jobs).

My comment is do NOT DARE TO SEND THAT OIL OUT OF THE UNITED STATES. And the same goes for the "purpose" of the oil from Alaska via the Texas pipe line.

If it's the fault of Chevron et al, then we, via Congress, ...you and me... better get the word to our representatives to pass the laws needed to prevent that.

$5.00 plus per gallon of 87 octane is preposterous and unacceptable.

We cannot and must not think we can finance the whole cotton pickin' world.

P.S. And BOYCOTTE OPEC!

We could drill for oil and natural gas on our soil and create tens of thousands of jobs and eliminate the need for foreign oil. Careful planning and structure would make it safe for the environment while helping us to pull out of this recession.

I hope our politicians in Washington are paying attention to this story.

Congress is invested in oil that's why they won't drill. More cash for them. You say it would show on their money trail, not! That's why they never get anything done one way or the other, it would screw themselves!

15 months ago, I bought my deadbeat unemployed former roommate a one-way train ticket to Williston from Washington state so he could take a job at the local McDonald's. Since then, I have seen several articles all about the jobs boom going on there, including this one, and one yesterday about strippers from all over the world moving there to shake their moneymakers for the lonely oil workers. Now, I wish I was the one who had moved.

What has happened to every Boom Town in our history?

You mean the ones like Houston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Denver?

It's great to have our own resources being utilized and creating jobs, as it should be. When we recover the crude we have to have something to do with it and that is where the problem lies. Where are the refineries? Here is more job creation opportunity but the greenies will stop that, to hell with jobs, let's protest possible polution from a refinery while we crap & piss in the bushs at public places but that is OK, didn't want a job anyway.

...and Seattle, and Portland, and.... The list of boom towns that have succeeded reads like a Who's Who of population centers on the West Coast.

Good point, FedUp. Doesn't matter where you buy your gas. Arco, Chevron, Union 76, BP, it all gets refined in the same place, and there hasn't been a new refinery buillt in the U.S. in over thirty years. The few we DO have are operating beyond max capacity using technology that has improved little since the 1970s. We could turn crude oil into gas faster and cheaper if the government and the environmental lobby would let us.

If North Dakota doesn't watch it, they will lose that pipeline with all of their insane demands

@Kenneth Cooper: The government subsidizes the oil industry big time since the beginning of time! How could you not know this??? As to the poster saying the oil should go to Americans: Are you not aware this oil is coming from Canada. We have way too many ignorant people living in the United States.

you guys haven't figured this out? Our oil is the piggy banked oil and it needs to be saved for our future endeavors. Did you know that over 50% of the oil that comes out of the ground doesn't make it into a fuel source? The biggest percentage is in plastics, latex and other rubber components of which 35% is used in the medical industry. Keep using OPEC until they run out, then we have time to coast before the end as we know it arrives....peace

Most still don't get it, there are only so many carbon atoms on the planet, when their gone their gone forever. We need a dose of tree hugger's and some new EPA regs. When the folks in the Dakotas start having kids with deformities they'll all cry shame on those oil companies and why didn't the EPA act? They'll be more law suits and the the class action lawyers will fatten their pockets. Yep, the cycle starts anew..........

What has happened to every Boom Town in our history?

Most of them do ok. I have lived in one my whole life. There is roughly, eh, 65,000 people here, and more moving in.

You mean the ones like Houston, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Denver?

Let us not forget some of our smaller counterparts: Casper, almost any decent sized town in Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas.

There is nothing wrong with a boom town, except the inablity to grow fast enough, lol. And, of course, whether or not the community can deal with the effects of the bust's that have a tendancy to come after Washington gets involved.

you guys haven't figured this out? Our oil is the piggy banked oil

Foolish thinking, there are enough reserves under Texas alone to sustain this country another 200 years. If technology has not advanced past fossil fuels in that time, they can rely on the new reserves being found in NJ and other parts of this country.

Jeffery, go back and study your chemistry and how a gallon of crude is broken down.

No new refineries have been built in the US because they are cost prohibitive with all the EPA crap. China doesn't mind building them the old fashion way. Wonder where all those pollutants end up when the wind blows? Wonder why our good paying refinery jobs got exported? THEY DIDN"T they were eliminated by the EPA.

Greedy Exxon/Mobil build those new refineries to the near impossible EPA standards, people won't mind paying $10 a gallon for gas.

Love the commercial for that cute Chevy Volt at the gas station, it has a gas tank, but it is for back up, I can go 35 miles on 1 charge. How wonderful!

jeffery f

We need a dose of tree hugger's and some new EPA regs.

Worked real well for California's logging industry didn't it?

KKC, you are naive if you think that big oil is not on the government dole.

The good news is...when the oil boom passes, and it will, there will be a new surge of jobs in ND in the field of environmental remediation

Jeff, the impact on the environment from oil drilling in small. They will simple close up the well and nature will take care of the rest.

Jeff-Jeff, judging from both your statements, you are the one who is naive.

Thanks Jeff-

I love people like you who stand up for the truth. I live in Pinedale, WY where the Jonah Field is. All natural gas and there's tons of it. But you have every green earth saving person saying don't drill shut them in.

We have hundred plus forecloures here now and people struggling to make it. I hope this doesn't happen for all those that are leaving families and heading for ND. I wish the government would stand back and look at what happens when they do the wrong things.

I wear a derrick on my necklace, as this is my life, my families life and I'm proud of where I come from. I agree, Drill Baby Drill...

Thanks Jeff-

I love people like you who stand up for the truth. I live in Pinedale, WY where the Jonah Field is. All natural gas and there's tons of it. But you have every green earth saving person saying don't drill shut them in.

We have hundred plus forecloures here now and people struggling to make it. I hope this doesn't happen for all those that are leaving families and heading for ND. I wish the government would stand back and look at what happens when they do the wrong things.

I wear a derrick on my necklace, as this is my life, my families life and I'm proud of where I come from. I agree, Drill Baby Drill...

What about the oil depletion allowance, which the petrolium industry has had since the 1920's? That's a subsidy. why don't you complain about that?

Subsidies for the oil companies PRODUCE JOBS. It's better than subsidizing "green" companies that go bankrupt.

He will stop this field from being profitable if he can help it. Look what the feds are doing in the East about fracking.

Kent McMillen "What about the oil depletion allowance, which the petrolium industry has had since the 1920's? That's a subsidy. why don't you complain about that?"

Silly argument. The oil depletion allowance is basically similar to depreciation for plant and equipment.

If you 'invest' $1,000,000 into plant and equipment (or an oilfield), you have to amortize the cost of the investment over the period of time that you get use from that equipment (or oil). You don't get to 'expense' the investment immediately, so you expense it as the value of the investment decreases.

It's merely a mechanism for accounting for all of your costs. Are you suggesting that the investors not be allowed to write off all of their costs?

If you bought a rental property for $100,000 and sold it 10 years later for $200,000, wouldn't you expect to count the original $100,000 as part of your cost? Or do you think you should pay income taxes on the entire $200,000, even though your 'profit' was only $100,000?

hey K K Cooper,

I guess it is OK for the government to subsidize the banking industry with bail outs? And to subsidize oil clean-ups the oil companies make?

Exxon just made 41% profit for the last quarter. They don't need ANY subsidies from the Government. And this Profit is after ALL the bills are paid.

Where was Exxon's money made? Not in the U.S.!

Tarzan...Have you ever heard of stock holders??? Not all stock holders are fat cats, many ordinary, working class people invest in oil and gas as part of their retirement and depend on this income to live on after they retire. If the oil companies (or any other publicly owned company) does not make a profit, investors lose their income and will no longer invest. When that happens the company goes broke. Explain to me how this helps anyone.

K.Kenneth CooperYet the liberals and Obama want to subsidize all their BS green energy jobs and call it growth. Growth comes from the private sector and not from the government subsidizing the greenies....and this is coming from someone who worked in two failed green jobs.

If I looked at your resume and saw you were a part of 2 failed companies - I wouldnt so much be questioning the mettle of those other companies as I would you.

there should be a way to delete one's own comment

Whoa there Roy, you provided a rock solid argument to an idiot, that can only lead to 2 things, enlightenment, or heads exploding. I'm hearing a lot of explosions right now.

To those of you who have already moved to North Dakota or are contemplating doing so, if you cannot embrace winter and thrive in it, DO NOT GO! Prepare yourself for daytime highs that on occasion fail to reach as warm as -25 anytime from early December to late February, and I'm not talking wind chill temperature, but actual air temperature during the heat of the day. Night time lows -20 to -35 are common. Now add a refreshing 20-25 MPH breeze. Makes me feel warm all over just thinking about it.

Reduce the corporate tax rate from the second highest on the planet, soon to be THE highest, then close ALL the loopholes for EVERY industry. Get all of them paying a resonable percentage with NO deductions.

But the whiney arse tax lawyers don't like that, do they?

Get the government the hell out of the venture capital business. It's NOT their money, it's ours, and they have no business subsidizing their pet projects and crony's hair brain schemes with our money.

But the whiney arse political contributors don't like that, do they?

When you see the government do either of those things?

You'll know they have FINALLY listened to what people have been pissed off about for decades.

Oh and the economy will go nuts.

Pragmatic- you couldn't be more right! When all corporations pay the same rate with NO deductions or exemptions INCLUDING those who register their headquarters on foreign [island tax havens] soil, the playing field will be leveled, no more tax breaks for those with the deepest pockets to buy political favors through campaign contributions and lobbyists. And we need to add a Constitutional ammendment preventing any future corruption of the tax code by special interests-maybe no changes to federal tax laws unless made in a single bill once a year instead of hundreds of additions to the tax code made annually. Maybe a Constitutional ammendment restricting the government from its venture capital idiocy, too. I've no problem with the government spending on r & d but picking and choosing individual companies is ridiculous.

I worked in the oilfields in the 80's boom. You better have a strong back and an iron will to go with it. These ain't no panty waste jobs. They/we earn every penny of it! A coke in one hand and a candy bar in the other was a good meal while out in the middle of nowhere! God Bless the oil workers!

Ohh jobs for Americans whoopie, that solve all of our mentality and real problems.

Never mind that it hurts the environment, never mind it’s a band aid that ends all too soon, never mind it puts off the renewable energy plans we desperately need to get off the oil tit, drill baby drill, after all global warming is just a hoax and all the jobs in the world wont help reverse or stop the inevitable damage already done, because you got a job?

Wool any one?

Roy Wilson: should they be allowed to deduct it, no they should not! if they lost money I could see your point; but if they made billions you get a flat no from me.

now whine about that if you want! but they all ready get to many deductions and subsidies, and most use loopholes to much, and probably have all ready received their tax breaks and then some!!!

David Jones,

Why not and too he*l with our kids and grand kids who are going to have to deal with the problem.

It is drill wether you like it or not for decades to come. Accept it...just an everyday fact of life around the planet. It is also the coming of "green" wether you like it or not. Accept it...just a fact of life around the planet. All these comments that are polarizing are from polarized to the point of stupid idiots. You unhonorables can go to hell. That includes republicans who are the biggest polarizing entity.

"Yet the liberals and Obama want to subsidize all their BS green energy jobs and call it growth. Growth comes from the private sector and not from the government subsidizing the greenies....and this is coming from someone who worked in two failed green jobs...until green jobs can compete without government handouts to make them competitive...drill baby drill!

Okay, take away the incentives for "green" energy. But next time any of these companies need to secure an alien interest, investment, reserve... they can do it without the help of the U.S. Military at tax payer expense. See how much a gallon of fuel costs you when they have to supply their own soldiers, ships, planes satellites... or pay the U.S. Government directly for this. This could be a win win but I doubt anyone will see it that way. Many of the homes needed there outside the city limits could be trucked in modular units made from the same storage containers they are using for temporary but more like a small single family dwelling. These could be outfitted with off the grid energy source (photovoltaic, wind, microhydro...) depending on the site conditions, well, septic... Then you get oil and green jobs growth at the same time and if done right the systems can be moved/removed to reclaim the rural areas when the crash comes in a decade or two as always follows a boom.

Weather up there is around 20 degrees colder than Detroit so it isn't as bad as some fools think. Yes there are some days that hit as low as minus 20 but are rare. It isn't much different than the U.P. in Michigan. If you want to make money, go for it.

Lower than -20 is rare? That's a joke right? I lived in Fargo up until this year and my entire family lives in small towns around Williston. It gets -20 on a good day in the winter here. The wind doesn't help either.

Taylor has it right. Its damn frigid. I have family in Dickinson and Belfield and lived in Dickinson myself for years. And yes, they all work in the field. 10 to 20 below is normal and the wind NEVER stops blowing. What worries me is where they are going to put all these people come this winter? Most RV's are not equipped to handle sub-zero temps and there just isn't enough housing for everybody. Scary stuff.

I live in NE North Dakota. When it's -20 I go to the grocery store - that's not too bad. When it's -40 or more I stay home. I'm 76 years old, and I moved here from California 8 years ago. Cold weather isn't fun, but you dress for it. It beats the hell out of living in California with all the crazies.

David Jones,

Why not and too he*l with our kids and grand kids who are going to have to deal with the problem.

I grew up in LA in the 50s and 60s.

One look out any window as a child and the concept of cruel and unusual punishment for my off spring came to me, and that was out of the question.

I remember the pain of just trying to grasp just a full breath.

My lungs felt like 3 packets of cigarettes a day, and I was only ten.

Now some want this for every city along with a pound of wool.

I wouldn’t have children and leave them to these idiots.

My only downfall is I wont get a seat at the forum when the chit hits the fan, and believe me, Id pay a house mortgage just to be there.

munneyhunney, I like most of your ideas, but you toss around the idea of constitutional amendments like someone without a clue as to how hard it is to actually get a new amendment passed. Not only does it require a supermajority of both houses of Congress (which is damn near impossible), but then it has to be ratified by 3/4 of the states! Can you imagine trying to get 60 Senators, 321 Congressmen and the governments of 38 states to agree on ANYTHING?

Dave, Dave, Dave...where do I start with you? First off, how can you decry any American getting back to work? As for the environment, the same arguments were used to try to stall the Alaskan Pipeline, and it actually had a net benefit on the caribou and other animals who now huddle around it in winter because it's the one thing that doesn't freeze. Besides, the Earth's crust is full of crude oil, the hard part is trying to get it out in a safe and economical manner. As for green energy, I live in WA state where we have lots of hydroelectric dams. No pollution at all and the rivers are always running, unlike solar (clouds) and wind (unreliable, and kills birds), so why does Obama say that hydro power isn't "green"? more...

Are you saying no to goverment subsidies? The entire farming industry, with the exception of local and small organic farms, is government subsidized!!! So, don't go there with no goverment subsidies for green, local, and organic farming movements. These are our future ... not Oil!!!

...now, as for global warming, I think everyone can agree that the global average temp went up by almost a full degree, Farenheit, in the last decade of the 20th century, but it's been flat ever since. And those greenhouse gasses you claim are going to kill us all? Less than 1/10 of 1% of those greenhouse gasses are thrown into the atmosphere by man-made sources, and that's if we include China and India, where there are virtually no environmental restrictions and nearly one half of the world's overall population. Fully 1/3 of the pollution on the West Coast, where I live, is directly because of China. They are building an average of one new coal-fired electric plant every week, and the air quality in every city in China makes the smog in Los Angeles in the 1950s look good by comparison, so what are you doing to stop them? Our manufacturing processes are spotlessly clean by comparison, and yet thet EPA wants even more restrictions on everything from coal plants to cow flatulence.

Get the government the hell out of the venture capital business. It's NOT their money, it's ours, and they have no business subsidizing their pet projects and crony's hair brain schemes with our money.

Actually, it IS their money. The Government provides many varied services to us, and we pay for those services by paying taxes. When we buy goods and services from Companies, the money we pay them becomes theirs to do with as they wish, and it is the same with Government. The only difference is that you can contact your Congressmen and state your concerns as to how they should spend Government funds - but so do other citizens with different ideas, and your Congressman is not required to follow your instructions.

Cow flatulence, that's great, lol.

David Jones, you will never convince people to give up their comforts for the good of the planet and every living creature on it. It will not happen, so you are wasting your breath. People are short sighted consumers. They consume, and consume, and consume. Sad, but true. It's why I believe so strongly in birth control.

NeighborOfTheBeast

I don’t visit any cities because I can close my eyes and “name that car by the pollution coming out of its exhaust”.

I haven’t done so for decades now, nor do I ever intend to.

We too have hydro electricity at our place as well as Solar and Leds while Oregon and Washington states are taking down some of their dams so the fish may re-live life as intended once more,......... the way nature intended.

As to the propaganda about how well the world really is, I always say "save it for a politician".

It isn’t doing very well these days.

Aside from some of the islands of this planet already going under water, aside from the fact they have to rename Glacial National Park another name soon because all but one glacier is left, aside from the fact that polar bears are one step away from losing their home [and disappearing all together], and aside from the real stories from real people who live in the north ALL saying global weather change is real, ......why in the hell would any one who isn’t getting a BJ from the Koch brothers want to lie in print?

The world is already in trouble, however the War of the Wool is winning I see?

But hey, a job is more important than living and breathing any day?

climate change will happen whether were here or not, look at the last hundred million years. one volcano can end us all but we raise temps by a degree in a hundred years (most from the 1st 20) and you obamabots freak out. climate change is real, and natural. you cant start it without the right conditions or stop it without the right conditions. tree huggers have way too much confidence in how important we are to the climate.

You can look up all the stats in the world and apply all the illogic you can muster to them just so they read any way you want them to read, however there isn’t a single government agency or scientific organization on this planet that will agree with you.

[and there are plenty of cooks out there with all sorts of BS, just for you]

The present global weather change is directly attributed to mans mis-use of his petro chemical resources as well as other arrogant ideas, like deforestation.

If the earth decided to do a global weather change now it would do so with out us or our consent.

But that’s not happening, it is however just another red herring used by so many to throw their hands up in the air and claim we cant do anything about the air we breath.

[Sounds like the solar moaners]

With this sort of BS, yes, we cant do squat unless we ignore all of these detractors with their misinformation.

dale-763548 "Roy Wilson: should they be allowed to deduct it, no they should not!"

So you think that if someone invests $100,000 into something that they sell in 5 years for $120,000, for an actual profit of only $20,000 should pay income taxes on the entire $120,000 sales price, and not just the actual profit?

That makes about as much sense as someone that puts $100,000 into the bank and gets interest of $3,000 after one year, but the government sends them a huge tax bill claiming they made $103,000 for the year.

You must work for the government. I'd like to see your logic.

Spadez

The oil price is determined b the market price, the oil companies have no control over them.

And this years Naive Award goes too...........

NeighborOfTheBeast & 9THGENAMERICAN, it's OK to stick your head in the sand as long as your ass is available for the Koch Brothers to screw. Lets take a Tidbit from their perspective.

KOCH BROTHERS ASSAULT ON GLOBAL WARMING"

When President Obama, in a 2008 speech, described the science on global warming as “beyond dispute,” the Cato Institute took out a full-page ad in the Times to contradict him. Cato’s resident scholars have relentlessly criticized political attempts to stop global warming as expensive, ineffective, and unnecessary. Ed Crane, the Cato Institute’s founder and president, told me that “global-warming theories give the government more control of the economy.”

Cato scholars have been particularly energetic in promoting the Climategate scandal. Last year, private e-mails of climate scientists at the University of East Anglia, in England, were mysteriously leaked, and their exchanges appeared to suggest a willingness to falsify data in order to buttress the idea that global warming is real. In the two weeks after the e-mails went public, one Cato scholar gave more than twenty media interviews trumpeting the alleged scandal. But five independent inquiries have since exonerated the researchers, and nothing was found in their e-mails or data to discredit the scientific consensus on global warming.

PS: The Cato Institute, Was paid for and established by the Koch Brothers

KOCH BROTHERS MANIFESTO

the Kochs’ subsidization of a pro-corporate movement fulfills, in many ways, the vision laid out in a secret 1971 memo that Lewis Powell, then a Virginia attorney, wrote two months before he was nominated to the Supreme Court. The antiwar movement had turned its anger on defense contractors, such as Dow Chemical, and Ralph Nader was leading a public-interest crusade against corporations. Powell, writing a report for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, urged American companies to fight back. The greatest threat to free enterprise, he warned, was not Communism or the New Left but, rather, “respectable elements of society”—intellectuals, journalists, and scientists. To defeat them, he wrote, business leaders needed to wage a long-term, unified campaign to change public opinion.

You two are now Libertarians, No longer Republicans, you just need somebody to tell you who you've become

Peace................

jseibel

Taylor has it right. Its damn frigid. 10 to 20 below is normal and the wind NEVER stops blowing.

Right?? WTF is up with that?? And no matter which direction you try to face you're getting hit in the face with wind! I have family in Fargo, West Fargo, and Horace. UGH, I get cold just thinking about being there!

patty girl

I live in NE North Dakota. When it's -20 I go to the grocery store - that's not too bad. When it's -40 or more I stay home. I'm 76 years old, and I moved here from California 8 years ago. Cold weather isn't fun, but you dress for it. It beats the hell out of living in California with all the crazies.

God bless you ma'am, I was born in Fargo, lived most of my life in California, and couldn't get away fast enough! I chose Texas though ;)

We moved from Bakersfield, CA, thankfully. What a cesspool of hypocrisy, and chock full of people living on the dole. No wonder they are broke. Quit supporting them all, especially the illegals. We live in Missouri now. Everything is cheaper amd it does not get that cold in the winter where we live. Sorry you live in Texas though. I wouldn't live there either.

rmpb

David Jones, you will never convince people to give up their comforts for the good of the planet and every living creature on it. It will not happen, so you are wasting your breath.

Ever heard of solar?

Get rid of all the red herrings and B.S., problem solved.

[PS Solar is possible and cheap once you get greed out of the picture]

That or just keep repeating the same old mantra I have been hearing even back in the 70s and you will never be free from big business B.S. and slavery.

There is nothing unrealistic about freeing our selves from oil, other than the oil companies and right wing BS.

So, let me understand this. Producing a commodity that someone wants to buy (I think that's called an economy), creating good paying jobs, investment in a community..... And whose money is being gambled? Yours? The government's? Uh-uh. And don't you think there should be return on investment from taking risk? If not, would you invest?

Let's stop this boo-hoo attitude and make positive things happen. Lusting after someone else's money and accusing anyone who's successful of being greedy is a losing game.

rlp1949; I would like to see what positive things have happened over the last 12 years that the banksters and Wall Streeters have been given the rules and laws to steal from the working class American and take the working classes investments. As long as some people defend this crony capitalism, America will never get back on its feet. It's not the government that is the problem, it's the people in the government that backs Wall Street and large Corporations that outsource American jobs; that is the problem.

The corporations would love to create thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the oil industry if the greenies would get the heck out of the way!!

it is a wrold more and more international

"It's not the government that is the problem, it's the people in the government that backs Wall Street and large Corporations"

not the government but the people in the government??

it's a government "by the people, for the people" - we elected them folks! what does that tell you?? stop electing the idiots into office!!!

tt904. Is this creating jobs? I belive jobs are good. I am sure these people would like to have jobs for 20 years, rather than not. Even if the jobs go away after 20 years, guess what? They had a job for 20 years. That, i say, is GOOD!

rip1949: You have to understand that these are Not American oil companies that are taking OUR oil out of the ground here and selling it to China. I look at the oil in the ground as belonging to the American people not Foreign oil companies that pay Zip for drilling rights. And then get subsidised on top of it.

westbury64

The corporations would love to create thousands, if not millions, of jobs in the oil industry if the greenies would get the heck out of the way!!

Because clean drinking water is over rated.

I'm no Wall Street admirer, but blame shifting, demanding a share of other people's money, and other socialistic anti-American attitudes are crippling this country and hamstringing economic recovery.

And, Tarzan, why do you assume these employers are taking "our" oil? If it's on private property, why would it be ours? That's like saying your house or the flowers in your front yard are "ours". If it's on government land, they bid for the rights. Isn't that a win-win?

@Fortidream

Uh, What?

Here here rip1949

tt.....

Let me get this straight, somehow you think it will not do America any good to produce this oil here and sell it on the world market???? By that logic, it would do Saudi Arabia or Iran no good to market their oil on the world market either. Last time I looked, their trade balance was VERY much to the positive side of the ledger. We, on the other hand, have a $700 Billion annual oil trade imbalance...not to mention other items. Whatever product you make or recover in the U.S., we need to sell it. Our economy sucks because of people like you that say we should just sit on our hands and hope the government can keep paying everyone welfare.

The OPEC nations HAVE to sell their crude oil on the world market because they have nothing else to contribute to the world market. They were Stone Age barbarians before oil was discovered at under their sand, and when it runs out in the next 75-100 years, they will go back to being Stone Age barbarians, albeit with very nice hotels.

Also with no ability to feed the many millions who will exist at the time. Hell, they cannot even feed them now. I say we form an organization of FoodExportingCountries(FEC). Tell them food for oil, but only one bushel.

Sorry, one bushel for on barrel.

wow rip 1949 im not quite sure what to say, you sound like another gov brain washed fool. the natural recourses of any country belong to its ppl - all its ppl not just those at the top. gov land is the ppls land, gov land and its resources are supposed to benefit all. there is no such thing as private gov land.

I don't know dragula, I think rlp1949 is kind of on point. If I was a multimillionaire, came to some nice little town, opened a company and employed everyone, once the company went belly up, would all of the employees pitch in with fundraisers and get the owner his money back? What country is this? I want to move there. Risk = Reward. With that said, there does need to be regulations, and someone watching all of these industries because people are inherently greedy. If you worked with two other people, and all three of you made $20 an hour. If your boss called you in and asked you if you and one other worker could manage to do the third worker's tasks, he would pay you each $30, would you take the offer knowing someone was going to lose their job? These corporations figure out stuff like that all the time to improve their bottom line, individuals do the same thing but on a smaller scale and hardly newsworthy.

steve i am talking our natural resources - they should not be exploited for the benefit of a few as they belong to all of us. by that i mean that those at the top shouldn't rake in billions in personal profits, those profits should be owned by the ppl and used for education, medical, infrastructure ect..

Two miles down? Quite a ways below the water table, hombre...

Absolutely, James.......Drinking water comes from very near the surface. The water at the depths they are drilling is not usable in the first place.

I live in the area and glad to say that I drink the water without having any concerns for my health. You might want to do your research on fracking. I agree with James Buchanan!

JP, you need to do your homework...fracing (spelled correctly) doesn't do anything to the water...just another tree hugger with wrong information!

The liberal list of scare tactics is getting added to almost daily. Must be an election coming up soon.

Yea do homework the bakken is 20k feet down and is drilled away from the water table and is monitored to make sure the table remains stable. usually 12-13 k or ( Thousand feet ) is drilled veritcal and 8-9k is drilled horizontal. I have been on several Fracks as we call them and flowed the well after they are done.

Where has there been a "proven water problem " caused by fracking?

Yep, there will be consequences, new jobs, families that can afford to put food on the table, improved communities through increased infrastructure.

yes there will be problems, but it sounds like the mayor is working hard to identify and alleviate those problems.

nothing is perfect, but 1% unemployment is damn near perfect

Libs and Enviromentalist wackos back at their usual tactics I see.

Yeah MOOB it is called thinking ahead.

Becky-4382646

I live in the area and glad to say that I drink the water without having any concerns for my health. You might want to do your research on fracking. I agree with James Buchanan!

Do you have a well? Must be why the PA DEP just cited fracking polluters for well water contamination. Must be why entire states are having a moratorium on fracking. Must be why the town I live in just passed regulations keeping fracking operations hundreds and hundreds of feet from property lines.

Ford Man 4 life

Where has there been a "proven water problem " caused by fracking?

http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?subjectid=49&articleid=20110625_49_E1_ALLENT943984

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2011-04-16-gas-fracking-explainer.htm

"In Pennsylvania alone, regulators issued 1,400 citations to drilling companies for regulatory violations between January 2008 and June 2010, according to The Pennsylvania Land Trust Association, an environmental group. Two-thirds of the violations caused or had the potential to cause environmental damage, from chemical spills to improperly lined sludge pits, the group said."

http://www.propublica.org/article/officials-in-three-states-pin-water-woes-on-gas-drilling-426

@Mike..... Taken directly from the Tulsa World article, "Seneca declined to reveal the nature of the contamination, but said the agency has not drawn any conclusion about its cause." Then in the section of the USA Today story you pasted it says 1400 citations were issued to drilling companies. It does not say what portion of those citations involved fracking... if any. And you gotta love the "Two-thirds of the violations caused or had the potential to cause environmental damage, from chemical spills to improperly lined sludge pits, the group said." So out of those two-thirds how many actually caused non-reversible or even long term environmental damage? All the propublica article talks about are theories as to what caused the problems they talk about. Did you even read the articles you linked to or the section you cut and pasted?

So, let me get this straight, we have a protest movement that claims to represent 99% of the population and one of its biggest concerns is the lack of jobs in this country. Then when an area of the country finds a way to start producing good paying jobs, the same group of people that are moaning about not having good paying jobs doesn't want us to take actions to create these jobs because it involves fossil fuels. What a joke!

I live in NE PA where there's a drilling boom. Yes, there has been contamination of some wells---first, by spills around the rigs and second by fly by night operators dumping their waste "water"---and the problems have happened to very shallow wells near these bad actors. The main problem is disposal of or better, reusing of the waste water they pump down into the wells. There is at least one company that has arrived that has the techology to clean up this waste so it can be reused in the wells again instead of needing to be disposed of. This is a new industry so of course there will be growing pains. As problems arise, solutions are found and implemented. Don't shut down an entire industry because there are some missteps that need to be, and are, rectified. We'd all still be living in caves and hunting with stone tools if that had been our approach throughout history.

Well fracing is basically, pumping water down a well, once it is loaded into the perfs and pressured, high HP hydraulic pumps are placed into gear and the pressure starts fracing the formation (similar to a hammer hitting a cinder block wall). A gel substance (in frac tanks) is introduced into a blender truck and sand is added. The sand is to keep the formation open. Once the gel is completed then a flush through the well is done, typically a "gel" breaker is added and the well closed off. A day or two after (whatever the engineer decides) the well is re-opened and swabbed out, with the waste going into a waste pit. I hope this very generic description helps folks to understand the process.

cracknjack, take some medicine, your anger has taken you to new lows! Your "inbreeding" comment is a poor reflection of our intellect, reflects anger, and many will skip your comments because it adds no value.

Hope you take the advice (you are not alone), just want to offer help.

Libs and Enviromentalist wackos back at their usual tactics I see.

Yes, because it is so totally crazy to want air that can be breathed but not seen, and water that is drinkable, and rivers that don't catch on fire, and pristine wilderness areas to enjoy.

Much more sensible to gut environmental regulations so that profitable companies can become even more profitable by not having to clean up after themselves.

(yes, it's sarcasm, for the sarcastically clueless)

Companies used to be able to get away with that stuff in the mid-20th century, CM, but there is too much access to info for that to happen now. ANY company that abused the environment or poisoned its customers or defrauded its stockholders would very shortly be sued and be out of busines in this new information age. We are too connected with each other everywhere for them to get away with it. That's why capitalism works so well. We, the consumers, have the ultimate regulatory authority. By choosing, with our wallets, not our government, which companies will thrive and which will fail, we offer better choices for all. Don't like the taste of tap water? Buy bottled, or use a filter. Don't like all the fat in your cheeseburger? Buy a salad. Don't like $4/gal gas? Buy a vehicle that gets better mileage. Don't like the air quality in your town? Sue the polluters, or better yet, move. Take your money elsewhere, including your income, property and sales taxes.

And what happens when the oil is gone? I doubt those jobs will be around for my kids. Screw the environment, I want to see sustainable jobs.

I have a stepson at the U of Chicago. An art school. Wanna tell us what job you are studying for?

I've been out for a while and am now a biologist. I'm not complaining about jobs, I'm just worried about the next generation.

Art school.........when I graduated, we didn't have that. Place must have changed.

U of C student

And what happens when the oil is gone? I doubt those jobs will be around for my kids. Screw the environment, I want to see sustainable jobs.

By the time the oil is gone we will be heavily into green energy. Your focus is to narrow! Now that the technologies are being developed, they will become increasingly cheaper and user friendly. The transition will be gradual, but it will probably happen long before the oil reserves are gone.

So archangel, we are pinning our hopes on a technological miracle? Hallelujah! Praise the lord. But if a technological breakthrough does not happen, the transition to renewables will be a nightmare, because renewables are less energy dense. It is better to deal with the problem now.

The change from coal to oil didn't happen overnight, or the creation of nuclear energy either. It takes time to develop the technology of new energy sources. In the meantime, we still need oil.

RepublicanSteve

I have a stepson at the U of Chicago. An art school. Wanna tell us what job you are studying for?

What does that have to do with anything eh dolt?

fossil - I've been reading all of your posts and in this one it seems you contradict your negative opinions about drilling in ND. First you say that we need to maintain our path to "green" energy, but in this post you are saying that that really is just a pipe dream too??? Well, which is it? That's the problem with you tree huggers, you flip like a light switch to appease your opinions even when they don't make ANY sense at all, or is it just an ego thing that makes you an idiot??? hmmmm....

Gee I wonder how many jobs and livliehoods Exxon took away when they decided to cut corners and take the chance of spilling millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico? If oil companies would act responsibly, people would have a better attitude about granting drilling permits. So in essence, oil companies are at least partially to blame for increased regulation and less drilling permits.

Baracuda, it was BP (Exxon was Alaska). how many wells and how many major spills in the last 50 yrs. I say a car crash last week, should we stop making cars until their no crashes?

logic, where has it gone??

I do agree that every effort by cooperation and govt should be made to be proactive in preventing reckless mining and/or drilling, farming, wood harvesting, etc; but if we choose to live with lights, homes, cars, etc.; many of these industries have to exist.

if we want to clean up the environment, quit driving or using electricity.

BP spilled oil into the gulf of Mexico, not Exxon. Instead of punishing BP, who by all accounts committed environmental crimes, the idiot in chief punished the states that border the Gulf of Mexico and the citizens who reside there. Most Gulf States citizens wouldn't elect this moron for dogcatcher. He singlehandedly by executive order shut down the economies of these states which are focused on producing a usable commodity for which there is an actual demand. I realize most Obama supporters think the only good manufacturing jobs are unionized auto workers, and public workers. . . if it's in a red-state the jobs created somehow don't count. Think about it please and stop blaming an industry that actually creates jobs and produces a product we all still need.

The answer is further diversity in energy.

That includes using oil.

I love how we should stop drilling because "someday" it will run out. Ok, just leave it there then huh? By the time it runs out, we will have the technology to make sustainable fuels efficiently enough to pay for themselves. Hell, when that time comes we won't need the oil but until then let capitalism work itself out.

The Earth's crust will NEVER run out of fossil fuels, it's just a matter of how hard is it to get at, and how much will it cost? The EPA and enviroloonies precipitated the BP oil disaster by forcing our oil companies further and further offshore, when there was easier-to-get-at oil much closer to land (and not nearly as deep as the Deepwater Horizon well was). We have huge oil reserves unexploited off the coast of California and from New Jersey to the Carolinas, not to mention ANWR and the Arctic coast of Alaska, but they won't let us touch it. Our oil rigs are cleaner and safer than ever before, but they won't let us drill. Might disturb a mouse habitat, or bird migration pattern or something. We haven't had a new oil refinery built in this country in over 30 years, which is why the crude we do get costs so much to turn into gasoline. Our energy production industry is stuck in the 1970s, meanwhile Germany has quietly become the world's leader in solar energy. Germany! There are solutions out there, people, we just need to get the government out of the way of progress.

There are many more jobs in the energy field all over this country and the gulf,but our job-killing,lying,pandering to the greenies President prevents millions of Americans from going to work with his regulations and killing of the drilling.

You sure weren't paying any attention when President Obama proposed opening up many more offshore areas to oil drilling.

Unfortunately, about a week later BP graphically proved that they weren't drilling responsibly, and really weren't prepared to prevent blowouts, or to deal with oil leaks, or clean up the resulting oil spill mess. So, a rational President put a temporary moratorium on drilling until the oil companies could prove that they finally got their act together and could actually prevent blowouts and deal quickly with oil leaks. When the oil companies are ready to really take responsibility for their actions, the moratorium will be lifted, more areas will be available, and drilling can resume.

By the way, some of those "green energy" initiatives were laws signed by the Bush administration and turned over to his successor to carry out. The objective of those laws for both the Bush and Obama administration is to reduce oil consumption, thus reduce oil imports.

protesters get jobs and work? but that would mean they would have to give up their drum circles...

Drum roll please! ta-ta-ta

These types of jobs are below them....I mean they would actually have to work...possibly break a sweat....Can't be having that....Candy A$$e$

I dont think they're hiring many liberal arts majors up there. Maybe clearing tables or sweeping up.

Looks like they chose poorly....maybe they should re-educate themselves to take a real job... expand their horizons...but than that would take a work ethic of which seems to be lacking in this country anymore...having worked in the petroleum industry for over 25 years I'm sure there's plenty of OJT opportunities....It starts with a willingness to work....

I have been musician and artist all my life. I am 50. I still am!

but i've also always had a job! cause I knew it is hard to make

a living at those things and I don't expect the government to

make others pay for me to do it if i can't make it on my own!

but these liberal want everything paid for! I do it cause I love

it that is enough for me but not these progressive liberals! I

hate my job and make about 30,000 but that's cause I put in

20 years! these kids and hippies don't want to work for nothing!

PeanutGallery, what the story doesn't include is that the fast-food jobs are going unfilled in the oil field communities, because they can't afford to pay McJob salaries anymore. They have to pay $10-$15 an hour to compete ... doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that isn't possible when your Value Meal is $6 ... Also doesn't mention that living in your car doesn't work when its 40 below for three months straight ... My brother travels through there a lot for his work, says the McDonalds is closing because they can't find people to hire ...

And there is not enough housing for families and ND'ans, being the pragmatic types, want infrastructure ready for them before the houses are built.

from the Williston Herald:

"Someone has been living under the bridge on Second Street West on the edge of Williston. Exactly who that someone is isn't widely known.

The Williston Herald ventured to the bridge several times this week, but no one was home.

But a home it appeared to be, complete with wooden walls, an outside grill, various personal belongings and even windows built into the green-painted structure that is built under the bridge that crosses a creek."

More from Williston

"A recently-completed report on man camps in Williams County shows that all facilities that are in operation are either full or very close to full occupancy.

...

The report shows that as of Oct. 1, a total of 59 percent of the approximately 9,400 man camp beds permitted in Williams County have been constructed and are housing workers."

from the Dickinson paper ....

Fidelity Exploration & Production Co., of Denver, was charged under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of a solitary sandpiper found in one of the company’s waste pits on May 6. Under a plea agreement filed in federal court Wednesday, Fidelity will pay the fine to the nonprofit National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Companies in North Dakota are required to cover the so-called reserve pits with netting if they are open for more than 90 days after drilling operations. The waste pits, which can contain oil, diesel, drilling muds and chemicals, are about the size of a large swimming pool, and birds sometimes mistake them for a good place to land.

Court records show Fidelity’s waste pit remained un-netted for more than 90 days after the well was drilled.

Good Lord Janelle we're the top of the food chain for a reason.

Hey student. Those jobs will carry people until retirement in the oil fields IF we allowed to drill. A BIG "F" GRADE FOR YOU.

Shows that with growth comes some serious problems, and that the oil co's are playing fast and loose with regulations.

I am ROFLMAO at the news stories coming out of the OWS camps. Apparently, they are all upset with the local homeless people for dropping by THEIR tent cities and taking advantage of the free food, free showers, free blankets and tents, free medical exams, etc., that they thought they had scammed for themselves. So much for their ideas of equality and sharing, huh? Many of their quotes are along these lines..."They (the homeless) are just showing up and helping themselves to OUR stuff, man, and that ain't right! They aren't contributing, they aren't bringing anything to the table, but they want to use up OUR supplies and they come in here with their drugs and their booze and they just make a huge mess everywhere!" Oh, the irony is killing me. ;)

NeighborOfTheBeast:

This has to be the all time best post on here!!!

the occupiers don't really want jobs. They will just move from one protest to another one not knowing or caring about what they protest.

This will not do America any good as long as the Wall Street boys and large Corporations are allowed to place the oil in the global market so they can speculate to drive the price up for only a few. People forget that in today's Wall Street deception and facade, the working class American can work his fingers to the bone to see prices driven up more and more by speculators; and the worker is left with not being able to get ahead of anything!

tt904 if you are going to take on the price of a gallon of gas by speculators taking into account all the cost involved in making that gallon of gas. You have to first spend money finding it, then drill it, then transport it for refining, then refine it then transport it to a distribution center, then transport it to the local station etc. etc. that is a lot of cost involved. Now take a bottle of water some of it nothing more than tap water, some "natural spring" water and look at the price for that and it is far more expensive than gasoline and far cheaper to get and far more abundant. I think we should be protesting the cost of bottled water if your looking for "deception and facade". Just a thought not that your wrong just perspective.

"and the worker is left with not being able to get ahead of anything!"

with salaries of $80,00 and $100,000 or more I would say that they have a lot more than 'nothing'

wish I had a job that paid that much. I make just a bit over minimum wage and just get by. If fuel and food start to increase in price again I guess eating will have to go.

gtouch If you look at it that way look at potato chips you're paying around $4 a pound for a potato if you buy the big bag. If you buy the small bag your paying around $12 a pound.

stc now why did you go and tell me that? Now I can't look at a bag of potato chips without going "OUCH"!

Cuz its a story about jobs, not fracking.

I wouldn't watch Brian Williams anyway. He quit doing "news" years ago now all you will see is propaganda.

i boycott all stations but FOX! even if i like a show now i won't

support them until they all change their liberal bias news coverage!

Fox is a newscasting joke.

And Taylor lacks critical thinking skills and does not care for actual facts.

So you're comfortable passing along those Faux News talking points?

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-25/obama-wrote-5-fewer-rules-than-bush-while-costing-business.html

"President Barack Obama’s “tsunami” of new government regulations looks more like a summer swell.

Obama’s White House has approved fewer regulations than his predecessor George W. Bush at this same point in their tenures, and the estimated costs of those rules haven’t reached the annual peak set in fiscal 1992 under Bush’s father, according to government data reviewed by Bloomberg News."

and besides, its an evil business, ran by evil people ripping off the rest of us.

yeah, they are so evil. you know, giving us the means to drive our cars, move goods and services, and work for our living.

thousands of jobs, thats what we need! Protesting on Wall Street, that is evil.

@ proggesives. yeah cuz at this point in bush's tenure we just had the largest terrorist attack in history you friggin idiot. pull your head out of your a$$

quick, someone shut them down or regulate them out of business, they are creating too many jobs!

vs.

Obama’s White House has approved fewer regulations than his predecessor George W. Bush at this same point in their tenures, and the estimated costs of those rules haven’t reached the annual peak set in fiscal 1992 under Bush’s father, according to government data reviewed by Bloomberg News."

Hmm, I think I prefer ACTUAL FACTS to hysterical rumor-mongering, sarcastic though it may be.

The Teapublicans have developed a very bad habit of making unsupported accusations against our President that simply does not jibe with the facts, and repeating them endlessly as if repetition would magically make it true. Doesn't work, except on the feeble minded who can't be bothered with mere facts.

I've been posting this link for a couple years now.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911&from=rss_home

This was a USGS study done in 2008 talking about the Bakken formation. We have enough to supply ourselves. It's about time that they start getting at it! And the US has been called the Saudi Arabia for Natural Gas. It's the greenies that keep shutting it down. We need to get away from importing oil from the middle east, then they can go back to their sandboxes.

The good news is the Bakken formation is very large, and will last a long time. The bad news is the Bakken formation isn't very porous, so production levels are low, and the oil flow rate is nowhere near enough to end oil imports. Moreover, just like all other oil fields, the production rate will decline as more oil is pumped out.

Sorry, but we're still going to need conservation measures, and improved fuel economy, and biofuels, and plug-in vehicles. "Drill baby drill" is not enough.

Bush mandated drilling the Bakken fields in 2005. They did and are producing oil now.

that might work but the US needs to keep some of its cards close to its chest.

It will help, but we need more than "drill baby drill".

A short lesson on "peak oil": The first oil fields to be drilled were the biggest, most accessible and most productive ones, but as the oil was pumped out, the production rate fell. Wells that once were gushers now only produce a few barrels a week. Later oil wells tend to be in less accessible, smaller, and less productive oil fields. The result is that US oil production peaked in 1973, and has been declining ever since. Even the Alaska North Slope oil boom made no more than a temporary bump in US production. So even if we opened up everywhere to oil drilling, we still couldn't reach the production levels of 1973, let alone meet all of today's demand.

So we're still going to have to work on improved fuel efficiency, biofuels, alternative energy sources, and plug-in cars.

Um...there are no gold mines in Elko NV... Best keep looking for work in ND.:)

I wish I was young that's where I would head. It'll be like the Alaskan pipeline of the 70's. Drill baby drill

Yes, you are correct.....however, proper use can have a valid and significant effect on the economy.

100 year supply of Nat Gas, use it.

I have news for you, boom or bust is what all jobs are in the long run. Manufacturing of heavy machinery, automobiles, and recreation equipment are all dependent on good economic times. Without the money to buy or build, companies will fail to find markets for their products, goods, and services, so everything boils down to boom or bust. Trends change, wealth moves, and with them so does the demand for goods and services. This is a good thing for the people of North Dakota, and the US. We must not look down on things that will help our economy recover, especially when they are good paying jobs producing a product the entire world needs.

Archangel, well and precisly said. The elitist liberals would never do these drill jobs, there not tough enough. They just want to bark about the environment.

People have lived and survived in ND for decades and decades. It is called "survival of the fittest".

agreed, there is enough time to build shelters and within a year many homes will be built surely.

4give - methinks the company owners will produce enough shelters for their workers. Anyone not finding work right away may have a long commute.

I bet many truckers are putting you on "ignore".

North Dakota has a solid 5-6 months of brutal winter. There is a reason why it is the least visited state and so few people live there.

Bull. Not much difference than here in the U.P. of Michigan. If you live in sissy land like Florida or S. Cal, then I would say yeah you will never make it. Too soft. You wouldn't make it ice fishing for a day.

How do you know its "0 illegals"? No mention in that article, and I'm sure you didn't actually check everyone's papers, and with high demand, the employers aren't being too picky, either.

Those "illegals" tend to be tough and hard-working, especially the migrant farmhands. I suspect more than a few have already jumped at the chance to earn good wages.

CM-6969:

Albeit, with stolen identities...

CM READ THIS IF YOU CAN.

They have no illegals because i have read the employment rolls for the state. I'm from ND. and 0% illegals since the cold weather would freeze the weetbucksks off.

Also we need people that will work not bitch about the cold. .2% African Americans

CHECK THIS SITE OUT FOR THE 0% STATS I SPEAK OF.

http://www.pascenter.org/state_based_stats/pas_workforce.php?state=northdakota

The following site lists by state the number of illegals weighted against the population of each state NORTH DAKOTA DOES NOT LIST ANY

http://www.statemaster.com/graph/peo_est_num_of_ill_imm-people-estimated-number-illegal-immigrants

so this is where the FACTS COME FROM CM

And when you cancel those tax breaks, do you think that the O&G companies are just going to say, "oh well, we have to just suck it up guys and pay more taxes now." I really think not. It will pass down to the consumer just as every other company does. You think you pay a lot for fuel now? I certainly hope that you can afford to pay for it when the tax break is taken away, and the prices start on the upswing again, only more so than before. Just sayin.

@JED-4382875

Why don't you listen, Oil prices are set by OPEC and wall st., they don't give a rats ass about how much taxes an oil co. pays. Exxon just announced its profits are up 41%, do you think gas prices will fall because of that? The only people who benefit from oil companies not paying taxes are wealthy stockholders, Wake UP!!!!!!!

no cut all OBOMBO and the demo liberal nanny state give away

programs that don't produce any jobs! Oil is good! hummmy!

@ TrueBlue72

Why don't you listen and read what is said before you go shooting off on something. I said, that if the tax breaks are taken away, then the prices that are set here by the oil companies will rise more than they already are. OPEC sets the crude prices on oil imports, and the prices that are paid by the distributors are set by Exxon, Shell, etc. This is a discussion on domestic drilling and using our natural resources so that OPEC doesn't dictate to us how much we pay. And, so what if they look for ways to pay less taxes. Do you not look for any deductions you can find to either get back money from taxes, or to pay less?

Companies DON'T give a rats ass about you and in no way should be expected to. Nobody goes into business with the goal of supporting a bunch of lazy people who don't want to work hard to create their own success. If you don't like the price of oil WALK!!! If you have a problem with how much taxes the oil companies are paying create your own company and give all of your money to the Government.

And yes, I am for getting rid of the subsidies. Oil companies have plenty of incentive to look for and drill for oil without the Government giving them a handout. And it won't impact prices any more than taxes on gas do.

@ sevenstrng

Well said, and I couldn't agree more with the first part of your statement.

However, if you take away the subsidies, then that directly affects their bottom line. And according to one of the previous posts, the only ones who benefit from no taxes are the "weathy stockholders", who in turn will see their bottom lines affected. All they care about is how much money is coming to them, and when they see less in their pockets, will want to know what is going to happen to make the same amount of money or more. I do, in fact have my own business, and it is tied to and directly affected by the oil and gas industry. Which has been very good to me for many many years. Even though I am tied to this industry, I still do not like paying the prices for gas every time i have to put fuel in my vehicle. Not an argument, just my personal observation.

Gotta grab the opportunities when they present themselves.

I have friends that have moved there and tell me that the living conditions suck but they come home monthly with big wads of money, same with the WY area. Here I sit in Utah making little money stuck in a house I can barly afford. If i screwed the banks like they are the american citizen and just walk away I Also could be living the hilife

I have two sons who are both welders for the same company here in Washington State but the work is only as steady as the contracts they get. I need to clue them in on N. Dakota.

Yeah they need welders to keep those pumps going when they start breaking in the minus zero weather.

Pugface - do that. I have family who are pipeline welders (back and forth between ND and home) and are pulling in 120k living in man camps at $5-$10 a day. Although they have said when they go back they will be trying to fnd a hotel with some vacancy and just drive due to lack of privacy. Still - one room split two ways (assuming they have a welder's helper) will still only be $150 a week. Save the rest of the money and invest it (ND real estate, maybe?) and they could become millionaires in the next few years. It happened here - is still happening here - they just nee our welders worse up there :)

CHECK THIS OUT.....L@@KIE HERE.....

MOTORHOME NEWMAR 40'.....LOADED.....GREAT RUBBER.....DELIVERED FOR RITE PRICE.

CASH ON DELIVERY FOR TITLE.....

macnamc.cl@gmail.com

Frack this you whacko.

Whoa buddy.......I'm a native, and you do not have permission to associate us with one party or the other. We've been party neutral for a long time.

As far as the dangers.....people there are aware of them, but are willing to take the risk. The local thought seems to be that it can't shorten your lifespan more than farming, but people will likely try to keep their kids away. It's not that it is safe, it's that people are willing to die a little early for a good life.

U of C student

Is life quality or quantity? I would rather live 60 years of a full life than 100 years of an empty one, denying myself what I may want to eat though it is bad for me, or doing things I want to do even if there is an element of risk to them. It is their individual choice! Many that are going there seem to have had some hard times and just knowing that you have an income is a much healthier way of life than not knowing where your next meal may be coming from.

That's what I said.

And you know this.......how?

We owe trillions, we need some way to pay it back.. I assume thats where he's going with that.

So your point is? This article is about jobs, not oil. The oil may be shipped else where, but the oil and jobs are in North Dakota and will stay there as long as the reserves hold out.

I think it's great that these high paying oil industry jobs are available to anyone who wants a job and is willing to work hard. It would be great if the oil was only used for domestic use. That is the only way prices in the USA would go down.

Oil...Bad

Baby Oil...Good

Smoke some weed people and chill out!

America needs the jobs!

What a bunch of retards!

Well, fracking caused the oil problem in the Gulf as I think I remember, I think it is a great opportunity for jobs in ND for a lot of Americans. The problem is that this well in ND can only give so many jobs and then when they are done hiring people, all of those people who went up there are going to be stuck up there because the media is calling this a boom!

Plus, I believe fracking can de-stabalize the earth's infrastructure maybe in the future causing earthquakes? This is just my personal concern and may not be true.

If not true, then drill baby drill..............

Yes America needs jobs, however all you hear from Obama and Reid are they we only need government jobs. Reid thinks that the private sector is doing ok. What products that Americans buy come from government jobs? I don't see the need for thousands of IRS agents. Obama does and has them in his health care bill.

Koeser said that his town currently has 2,000 to 3000 jobs and they haven't been able to fill the openings fast enough.

I'm not knocking a few thousand jobs developing in the U.S, but, there are 14,000,000 on unemployment, many millions more who have run out of unemployment or just given up on the job hunt, and millions more that are underemployed. A mere drop in a very large bucket, statistically irrelevant.