By Jessica Hopper
Rock Center
Rock Center’s report earlier this week on the jobs boom in North Dakota sparked more than a thousand comments from viewers with some declaring that they were heading to Williston to find work and some Williston locals saying that the jobs boom is good news for the economy, but there are growing pains.
North Dakota’s oil boom has turned the town of Williston into a kind of mecca for job seekers, but with the surge of newcomers and traffic come potholes and ruts in the city’s roads, a severe housing crunch and even stresses on the city’s sewage system.
Mayor Ward Koeser told NBC News that the population of Williston has doubled in the last five years and that it’s overwhelmed virtually all of the city’s departments.
“We’re very close to the edge. The intensity with which this has come at us is literally unbelievable,” said Koeser.
Koeser said the greatest strain on the city has been an influx in truck traffic. The trucks are needed to haul materials to and from the nearly 200 oil rigs and thousands of wells operating in Williston. Williston is situated on the Bakken formation, an oil field that some say will produce the greatest boom in North America since the 1960s.
“Throughout the oil field here in North Dakota, the roads are taking a beating from the heavy truck traffic that’s coming across,” said Joel Wilt, an assistant district engineer for North Dakota’s Department of Transportation. “We are constantly maintaining the roads, fixing potholes and taking care of things like this where we have deep ruts.”
Wilt estimates that each oil rig in Williston uses 2,000 trucks to haul materials like cement, sand, pipes and ceramic beads. The asphalt mix that was laid down on the roads two years ago to protect them was meant to last 20 years and it’s already nearly gone, Wilt said. Intersections have ruts as deep as four inches caused by the force of the trucks when they stop, Wilt said.
“We have to constantly maintain these roads. If we don’t, it will shut down the oil field,” he said.
Shutting down the oil fields isn’t an option. The oil boom has led to thousands of available jobs in Williston from work on a rig to the need for more teachers, doctors, police officers and restaurant workers to deal with the growing population.
This past summer, the warm weather softened the sub base of the roads and caused holes and ruts to appear. To combat this, Wilt said they've periodically closed the roads and implement load restrictions. They are also working on developing a stronger asphalt mix to withstand the truck traffic.
The trucks also mean that Williston residents are combating something they’re not used to: traffic.
Diane Hagen has lived in the town all of her life and calls the boom an “exciting time” in Williston but acknowledges that the traffic can be a headache.
“The traffic patterns have changed completely in Williston,” she said. “Everybody waits in line and that’s just the name of the game.”
The influx in the town’s population makes for cramped quarters. People are renting basements in homes or staying in man camps- shipping containers converted into housing units for the workers new to town.
Mayor Koeser said that one of the most accurate ways to track the city’s population has been to look at how many people the sewage system is serving.
“We believe there’s probably about 23,000 people that we’re servicing based on sewage,” he said.
Making sure the city’s infrastructure, its sewage and water supply, keeps up with its fast paced growth has been a challenge.
“You deal with are you going to make sure that you have sewage capacity. That’s a pretty basic essential, you know? You can get by without a lot of things, but when you flush your toilet, you want it to work,” Koeser said.
Terry Metzler is a real estate developer and said that Williston is a “utopia” for developers. He said that he is breaking ground so quickly that he has to slow down for the city’s sewage and water systems to catch up.
Metzler recently had a groundbreaking ceremony on 280 acres that his company hopes to turn into a subdivision with houses, apartments and office spaces.
“This is kind of feeling like the pioneers that were originally here,” said Metzler, North Dakota operations manager for Granite Peak, a real estate development company. “We’re busting some new ground.”
Metzler said there are also plans to build industrial parks, hotels, restaurants and a medical facility in the town.
“In the next five to seven years, we’ll double the size of [the] town,” said Metzler.
Mayor Koeser hopes that even as the town grows, that Williston retains its charm.
“You spend a lot of time focusing on infrastructure, water, sewer, roads and those sorts of things,” Koeser said. “You have to make sure that you spend time on quality of life as well…so that these young people who move here…that they fall in love with the place and they want to stay here. We want to keep them here.”
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I know what you are talking about in the article. I was a volunteer with the Red Cross with the flooding in Minot, ND in July and there were no hotels to be had because of the oil boom. The Red Cross staff slept on cots at the high school but we didn't complain because we had a job to do with helping the people who were flooded out of their homes.
And the libs say OIL is bad.............
When the oil spills in YOUR drinking water and YOUR backyard and kills YOUR animals and poisons YOUR children, you might think its not so great too.
Wonder what's going to happen in 10-12 years when the oil well in ND is dry and there's no business and this town's economy crashes.
You do realise that Oil natural spills millions of gallons a year with out mans help or are you so uneducated to not know that.
Sure it spills - but not in your backyard. Tell you what. If you think it's so natural how about every time there is a spill we spill the same amount onto your property just to test your hypothesis.
I've lived through several of these boom town situations.
Lasts for about 10-20 years and then the big crash comes.
The towns are usually worse off than if the boom had never come.
In the 1970's when Jimmy Carter was President. I moved to Houston, Texas when the OIL BOOM hit the Gulf States (Texas to Florida), it was GREAT!!!! a paradise for the unemployed, the JOB ADS were literally one inch thick in Houston. They hired you and taught you a SKILLED TRADE. Then two years after Reagan and Bush were elected, the BOOM left. Bush had his Middle East friends flood the market with OIL and the price of oil dropped to $10.00 a barrel. I read in the Houston Chronicle, they wrote that there was work til the year 2010. I was an Iron Worker and Houston had plans for 256 high raises to be built. Williston has to attach other industries to the TOWN now, CITY soon to be. GOD!!! I wished Houston would have never died, I loved it there and I would have a HEALTHY RETIREMENT right now.
Where's all those FEMA trailer's? I bet they'd be put to good use in Williston!
Seems like if you have growth you shouldn't complain.
Anyone mention what the winters are like in North Dakota? I was there as a kid for 5 years, cold, snowing, with 10-20 foot snow drifts, and I remember the snow fencing running for miles, upon miles, upon miles, along the highways, and Interstates, to keep blowing snow from devestating travel during the winter months! Job or not, I wouldn't move there, even today! It too cooooooolllllllllddddddd! {:-(}
Are u one of the people "occupying" NY or LA that is complaining about not being able to find a job? While you may or may not be, I am sure there are plenty of occupiers that are complaining about no job, no $$, yet here is a great opportunity but "It's just too cold there" for them. I suggest they put the picket sign down and get to work.
slq-770717 How about you give up your job to one of the occupiers and you go up there?
May I just say, that as the wife of someone who is currently in ND for the oil boom...our three children and I would be living under an underpass if it weren't for the oil boom. With no jobs where we live it is a blessing from god. just wish they had some housing out there so we could all be together. :)
have at it guys we computer folks will be there by next summer, get ready for the 21st century. Linux!!!
Great story, great for the economy in North Dakota. Problem is winter here is brutal. If you think you can live in your car or a camper over the winter - big mistake. Housing shortage is beyond critical. People need to be aware we can have a month solid of below zero weather, and that doesn't include the wind chills. Please use caution, be prepared and have a place to live that is not a camper in the Wal Mart parking lot.
This is great news. Go Big Oil, Go capitalism, go America.
Go away Obama!
Does that mean when there is no more oil you won't cheer for America anymore?
No. Only if Obama sticks around.
You do know that Obama opened up more offshore drilling and more drilling in protected areas, right? There are more places we able to drill today than there were at any time under Bush. This was a compromise to you guys on the right, and you don't even acknowledge it. Absolutely shameful.
I'm with you, Chuck Case! ND has now surpassed Alaska in drilling. What an embarrassment to AK. I hope ND is able to keep up with the infrastructure and booming business. This country needs it! Congrats.
Great boon for economy of ND. Liberals like me find it exciting also. Still the impact of fracking has to be a concern. What steps have been taken to deal with the backwater?
They think it's far enough down not to matter (2 miles). I'm not so concerned about them......so long as they stay east of the good farmland and don't contaminate that. Oil fields bring temporary wealth, but that farmland will last until the next ice age.
YES!! not ALL Liberals think alike, I'm a Liberal Iron Worker and I LOVE THE BOOMTOWNS especially when their building high raises and pipelines. and I don't agree with my Liberal tree huggers all the time, they pizz me off when they stand in the way for a Dam or Pipeline to be built. I understand their argument, but they don't need to stop economic growth for years.
This is the opposite of the good life. Primitive and barbaric. Sounds more like 1880 than 2011. Fools paradise. Why do they never tell you just how much oil will be produced "daily"? Not how many recoverable barrels are in the ground or how many years they estimate it will last. The number that matters is daily production. Hint - it won't make a dent in our current imports and it will cost much, much more. Idiots spinning there wheels, creating a mess and getting nowhere.
Hey Doofus: Climb off your high horse, willya? I grew up in North Dakota; "primitive and barbaric"? Well, I suppose if you live in a place where folks don't go out of their way to help others or have a sense of community, then you're right! Until I was 10, we lived in Williston, and in fact, I can remember some of these same concerns 50 years ago, when the first oil boom hit. I went back this summer for the first time in 30 years, and the real problem, it seems to me, is that some folks are going to end up freezing to death this winter. Between the Oil boom, and all of the construction and recovery workers who came to rebuild Minot after the flooding, there's simply not enough housing, and what there is, is vastly overpriced. Long-time residents who were paying $500-$600 for their apartments are being squeezed out, in favor of the oil workers who are dumb enough to pay $2,000--$3,000 for the same apartment! When this becomes a serious problem, expect the North Dakotans to push back! You might benefit from Googling the history of the "NPL" (Non-Partisan League") in NoDak during the '20s and '30s.
Ripping up North Dakota to get to this shale deposit is the canary in the coal mine. Like I say spinning wheels and getting nowhere. That's what's primitive. Selling this oil patch as the answer to the energy problem long term or the unemployment problem short term is just blowing smoke up our collective a$$. The fine folks of ND notwithstanding.
Daily production in the Bakken formation is estimated at 458,000 barrels/day, though experts think this number is too low. These numbers will increase as wells/workers increase. Recent estimates think there are 18 billion barrels available. So if we use the best estimate, they could pull the 458,000 barrels/day for the next 107 years.
Note that the Bakken formation covers 200,000 miles and includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and Saskatchewan.
Hope that helps, some sanity please.
Rand Corp. did a study and concluded at full production in 2035 or so optimistically 3 million barrel per day could be produced. We import 13 million barrels a day now in a very weak economy. We use 20 million per day. By 2035 if the economy were to grow enough to sustain our population that number will have to grow. In the meantime the old cheap conventional crude oil fields will have depleted by at least 3 million barrels per day. The oil from Bakken Shale will not offset those loses and the increased needs and it will cost exponentially higher to produce. Not even going to mention the issue with water. As it where is it going to come from. North Dakota has an average yearly rainfall of around 17 inches. Spinning wheels and getting nowhere. Only the mess will remain.
I get so tried of reading "these are short term jobs" ALL JOBS ARE SHORT TERM. I'm an Iron Worker, I build a bridge, a 2 to 135 story office building, a dam, ships, and after that job is over I move to the next job. Just like a Carpenter, he/she builds houses, finish and move to the next one, YEARS pass and those DAMS, BRIDGES, and OFFICE BUILDINGS have to be rebuilt. You get a job with a computer company, and you say to your wife, "OH!!! HONEY I HAVE A JOB FOR LIFE!!!" the next day you come to work, they closed the doors and moved to INDIA or CHINA. THAT MY FRIEND WAS A SHORT TERM JOB.
Right Christopher life itself is a short term job. What are you going to leave for the next group when this job is over? Polluted, dog eat dog, resource depleted, over crowded eyesore that serves a few and leaves the rest to fight over the scraps? Or a functioning, prosperous, sustainable, equitable society that works with it's surrounding and not against them.
"Idiots spinning there wheels" huh? You don't even know the correct form of their to use. Who's the idiot now? Get your facts and grammar straight before posting and calling people you don't know idiots.
They tell you that fast food starting at $15 an hour. Not true, it is only $9. There is no housing up there. Price gouging is everywhere up there. So you may be making more but the cost of living is much higher. I know cause my son is up there. They are only making so many false hopes for families. Living in a camper is not smart with the winter and not being able to get water or sewage for it is worse. Some places can't even get trash pick up cause they don't have room. So if you like living with trash enjoy.
Does anyone remember the gold rush? The only people who made money were the merchants who sold stuff to the supposed miners. Plus the lovely winters in ND make this a stop for a few hardy souls who may or may not stay. Here in AZ we say "have you spent the summer here"? In ND they say "have you spent the winter here?" Oil/schmoil, a job is a job if you actually get one!
This past summer Nat Geo had an excellent weekly series on a town in North Dakota about the oil boom and the rewards and problems that come with it. They should run again excellent realty series. Real life problems not those made for TV realty series.
Sadly this just sort of happened to this town. Sure it's a good thing because it creates jobs, but it happened so fast they didn't have time to prepare to the influx of everything extra people bring. I agree with most about the weather. We live about 2 hrs south of there and I have to tell ya, last winter we has snow drift at least 4 feet high in our driveway. Blocked our vehicles in. Not to mention that if the conditions for travel get too bad, they will close traffic on the interstates. If you get to our town in a snow storm, you don't leave until they clear the roads.
We moved out here about 4 years ago. We can handle the insane amount of snow, even the some-what nosey people...it's the constant blowing wind you have to deal with. And yes, in the winter, well below zero temps can be expected. Be lucky most of those days if you can get your vehicle started. And they don't close school out here for bad weather. The rual buses may not pick up your kid for school, but they won't cancel it. I think last year they closed school 3 times total for the year. A 4 wheel drive vehicle is almost a must, just like toilet paper. If anyone wants to make a go out here, more power to ya! But do not, I repeat, DO NOT move out here in your RV, camper, or what not like that because you will not make it. And the price to live out here isn't bad. Average cost of renting is about $500/month and a lot of those places include utilities. But there is a housing shortage every where up here, so find a place to live first.
Thank You Partner for the information, I was telling my wife, they'll likely slow down for the winter and pick back up in Spring. So if I drive up there, it'll be this coming Spring.
Yes, you must be 2 hours south of Williston. I rent in Williston and can tell you if there are any rents left at $500.00 a month no one knows where they are. They will certainly be doubling every 6 months in the future. $500.00 rents...absolutely not. Lots for trailers rent for $350.00.
We live in Bismarck, roughly 4 to 5 hours from Williston and the effects of the oil are slowly moving East. Housing is Bismarck is getting tight and more costly too. Nothing that is so out of reach for most people, but if you live in Bismarck, you still have the issue of commuting if you want to work in oil. My husband works for Menards and they recently did a wage survey to make sure their wages are in line with others in the area so they are able to retain their employees. 4 to 5 years ago this wouldn't have happened. The oil has benefits to the state's economy but with those benefits come the not-so-niceities so to speak. We have seen some rougher people moving into the state, but I am convinced that most people coming here are just trying to make a living and support their families. It's too bad that a few bad apples give the others a bad name. Good luck to those who choose to come and see what our way of life is all about.
@Gary2009-1 You're right about the winters! I was born and raised in North Dakota but now living in the deep South - Louisiana. I'm proud to tell folks I'm from North Dakota but I've been "climatized" - I'll now take the heat and humidity over the freezing cold :-)!
Brother, I moved to Baton Rouge in 1997 til 2002, I lived at the Vel Rose Motel in a kitchenette apartment off Airline Highway. the frickin heat was so bad, when I drew my water for a shower, the cold water was so hot it literally burned your skin. I Loved Louisiana, it was the prejudice that bothered me. I grew up with some boys from ND (1969) and they told me that it would get so cold in ND, they took the freeze plugs out of their engines and ran the car with no water. Is this true??
No, not true. But you need lots of antifreeze.
That equates to walking to school uphill 2 miles barefoot in the winter and the same going home....
How about assessing the participating oil companies a fee for each well approximately equal to the cost of the services provided. This will allow the city to maintain the roads, sewers, schools, etc. and not cause any undue burden on the local taxpayers. I'm sure that the good people of Williston welcome the job boom but should not be unjustly taxed for the services necessary to maintain the infrastructure. A little cooperation and ingenuity will go a long ways in solving these problems and make for a better living and working enviornment. Three cheers for the oil companies and the new jobs that they are providing and may God continue to Bless America.
The oil companies aren't going to pay for upgraded, improved or new city systems. The workers will. Why are you cheering the oil companies. Nationalize the industry and all that oil would stay in the states and the revenues would pay to build a nice town for the workers to live in.
Wow asking companies to pick up the real costs of their business rather than pass it on to the public... how socialist of you. Maybe we can even ask them to clean up the mess they will inevitably leave behind.
" assessing the oil/gas companies a fee for each well approximately equal to the cost of the services provided" Pretty standard practice with gas wells here in TX. Use a city road to get to your well, pay for the upkeep.
Yes... I agree. The oil companies need to contribute a hefty amount to the town's coffers to help pay for the strain they are putting on local services.
Their trucks are destroying the roads, and it is because of the companies and all those extra jobs that there is a shortage of everything from places to live to proper sanitation.
Then if the fracking causes environmental damage, the companies really should pay to clean it all up and make whatever reparations are possible.
I think a new movie version of The Lorax is coming out in March. But you can get the book or watch the old movie -- the message is all about what happens when someone moves in, uses up the resources, messes up the environment, and moves out again.....
When destructive drilling or an oil spill disaster destroys farm land and wildlife habitat, and with it the agricultural industry and the ability to hunt & fish in ND, oil drilling might not seem like such a good idea.
You are right. It is a terrible idea.
Lots of people are desperate, though; and when people can't put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads, when they lose the dignity that comes from gainful employment, when they have lost so much -- they will jump at whatever possibilities present themselves.
Maybe when it is short-term survival versus long-term survival, the default is -- survive the short term, then we'll worry about the long term.
But the long term implications here are scary. We need to do whatever we can to mitigate those long term possibilities before they reach disaster proportions. I am not sure what that means in this case. But I am pretty sure what it does not mean -- it does not mean we can let the oil companies and others come in and use job creation as an excuse to despoil the environment, make profits, make the place unlivable, make more profits, and then just brush off their hands and walk away from their dirty work (as others have done in the not so distant past).
Hmmm...We are farmers and have oil wells on our land. There have been accidents and we get ahold of the guys who are managing the wells, and they call the oil companies and they send in an evaluation team, and the land is cleaned up, and we are shortly back to farming the land. If the cleanup is not good enough, they come back in and re-clean the land.
Don't think this would be a problem if we weren't in a terrible bind with the economy. But we only want the hardy to come up here and live. It is good that the "weather weeds out the unhardy". But at least MOST that come up here to live want to work. We are proud of that fact. Unfortunately, Minot has been inundated with those who are coming in to rip off those less fortunate, work for a little while, then get on welfare....that is a big problem here. BUT...hopefully those that do not want to work, and those who want OUR money, will be weeded out when the cold weather comes. YES, the rents have been raised drastically, and there are those who are being booted out of their homes, which is a dang shame. There are jobs that are paying 13-14$ hr in C-Stores, and in fast food chains. They are also hit hard and are having to pay high wages to get workers. They do pay more for prime hours. It is extremely difficult to get any workers to come and stay. Housing aside. Some ag businesses can not afford to pay the high wages.
Those that run down the oil companies do not understand business. For the most part they are environmentally responsible, but accidents happen, it is called human nature...and accidents do happen. If all they did was to come in and despoil the environment, they would be out of business...especially in light of our ligative society. I would say those that complain of the side effects... are not truly wise to the true nature of oil drilling. It keeps a heck of a lot of people in business and earning wages, paying taxes, running governments, raising families, etc. So, please get your facts straight before you run off at the mouth.
Well Mr. Mayor...I guess you better quit thinking about how you're going to POCKET all this windfall and have to start SPENDING on MORE EQUIPMENT and MORE OPERATORS and get your head outta yer butt and be an effective LEADER! This is a problem the rest of the country WISH it had! So quit yer bich'n and get to WORK! Obviously money is NO OBJECT! By the way, I would love to hire on with the city/county as an equipment operator to help keep your roads tight! $25/hr + full benefits and here's the real benefit: M-F 7AM-3:30 PM! PAID HOLIDAYS, VACATION, ETC!
I bet money is a big object. It costs a lot to upgrade 2-lane farm roads to handle heavily loaded semis and dump trucks. Likewise with water and sewer systems. I wonder if the town is even able to tax the oil companies at a rate that will offset the cost of expanding and maintaining the local infrastructure.
I need a job, I will come to ND, I've lived in Alaska, I live in Central MN I know winters... I am a female, would like entry level office work, I'm a photographer, I've done real estate sales, I am open... but no heavy work or lifting 30+ all day long... my kids are all grown and I want to work... with a place to sleep and shower... I am good to go! Seriously, I can pack up the car and be there in 3 days.... but it is so close to Thanksgiving might as well start the beginning of December.... New month, new beginning, new opportunities...contact me through Simple Pup Recipes on FB thanks
well drive by and pick me up marydee living in northwest iowa near the mn border and i love winters. need to know what asphalt plants are up there. i use to run a portable lab here in iowa. was hard to do with small kids on the road all the time. but now their grown up and im just only me. hate my job im doing now i want out and go back to what i ejoyed. and i heard that they need some road repair. want something differerent and i love challenges. i bet theres alot of men up there to.
I am a Williston resident and if you are thinking about coming up here for a job fine, but you had better think long and hard about it! 1) THERE IS NO WHERE FOR YOU TO LIVE ! 2) You cannot live in your vehicle or camper over the winter here. 3) Winters in North Dakota are BRUTAL, your car will not start at -30 without a block heater, and if your car is going to breakdown its at -30. If you become stranded and leave your vehicle in the winter up here you will die, period, not kidding at all, its -30. See number one !!! Williston North Dakota is one of the few places in the U.S. that you can make 100k a year and be homeless. Consider this a warning to the glowing news reports about all the jobs up.
I am a Williston resident and if you are thinking about coming up here for a job fine, but you had better think long and hard about it! 1) THERE IS NO WHERE FOR YOU TO LIVE ! 2) You cannot live in your vehicle or camper over the winter here. 3) Winters in North Dakota are BRUTAL, your car will not start at -30 without a block heater, and if your car is going to breakdown its at -30. If you become stranded and leave your vehicle in the winter up here you will die, period, not kidding at all, its -30. See number one !!! Williston North Dakota is one of the few places in the U.S. that you can make 100k a year and be homeless. Consider this a warning to the glowing news reports about all the jobs up.
I myself work over in North Dakota in the oil field. Yes some of these things are true: like the harsh winters, no place to live, but there are plenty of jobs there.
One poster above said the fast food joints dont pay that much. I hate to tell you but they do. Their signs state the wage that they are paying trying to get people to work there. The problem is that you can make so much more in the oil field with benefits.
The work is hard, the weather makes it tougher but anyone can do it.
The part about staying in a trailer, is possible. I know many people who stay in their trailers there and live just fine. Not the most desirable living situation but it is worth the money.
The roads that need repaired should be payed for with the gas tax that is added to each gallon of taxes. They are raking in taxes from just that. I myself use around $500 in gas each week driving to the rigs to do work and that is in a work truck. The semi's that are hauling probably use close to that each day hauling rock, water, pipes, supplies, etc. out to these sites. If you have the willpower to do this, it is a good paying job.
Most Oil companies will not accept resumes at their offices there. Apply online before you attempt to go there. It will make things easier.
Steve
Do you happen to have the website to apply online? My son is interested. Thank you for posting this information. Hopefully , people will do as you advised and not just go out to ND.
You can look at the North Dakota Job Service website or go to the sites like Halliburton, Schlumberger, etc.... some of the companies do provide a place for their employees to stay but is a huge concern if not. Also the drilling companies work a week on and a week off or 2 weeks at a time so some of them fly in and go home on days off. Good luck.
Look, don't you pessimists think all of these handicaps occurred in the early '70s when the pipeline was being built in Alaska? People were moving there in droves and I'm guessing the weather was a bit colder, too. If ND wants to reap the rewards of the oil they are going to have to pull together, cut through the red tape, and make it work. And if the "Occupy Wallstreeters" really want some paychecks, they will put their money where their mouths are and get a job and quit complaining.
Everybody loves to point fingers and play the blame game. Stop it. Just do something.
-Oh, and I heard there were some gold rushes up in Alaska, also. I do not think the cold and dark stopped them
slq-770717 thoughtless action produces disastrous results. Desperate people rushing about for any job they can get with no regard for the future consequences their participation will result in. Clawing and scratching for what you can get. That is not civilization. Abandon the pursuit of oil and focus like a laser on solar, geothermal, wind AT THE HOME. Produce electricity, drive electric cars, build out electric mass transportation.Redesign cities to accommodate walking, bicycle riding. There are hundreds of productive worthy endeavors that could bring jobs, prosperity and civilized lifestyles. Don't sell out to the oil men. Lobby for a better deal. If the market is what they listen to then speak up for quality of life. That's not blaming or whining or lazy or whatever you're afraid it might be. It's smart. It's not the 19th century it's the 21st.
Gotta love the simple idealists... Damn reality!
Look at history. You will see what reality is for boom towns. Short term gain; long term, sometimes irreparable, disaster.
The oil development in this town is bringing in more than enough money in tax revenue to pay for any repairs needed. Been pipelining for 30 years and have seen the price gouging in every town within 50 miles of the job site. Everybody benefits, including the 'greenies' who stick their hand out for a payoff when the grass is greener on the 'other side'. I hope the people that don't like oil development aren't driving cars or heating their homes with it or using anything that's plastic because they're contributing to the very thing that they claim to be against.
I hope the people who care only about money wake up soon before it's too late and stop giving their precious money to the oil industry as it's best days are behind it and the real future and profits are in alternatives.
Some sanity may be just what you need...
Hey somesanity. Not everyone lives in the cities. the electric cars aren't feasable out in the sticks. What do you suggest those people do?
They can still use gas and oil. It's not going away. Just put it in it's rightful place. You're not suggesting the vast majority of humans who live in cities should put progress on hold and pay the high cost of an old played out energy source simply because there is a small minority of people who still live in the country are you?
And you get to decide it's rightful place. The "small minority of people who still live the the country" are producing goods and services that I am positive that you use. So, start doing without our work.
HadEnoughOfIt Yeah I'm sure that chip on your shoulder feels like the weight of the world but you're not carrying anymore than anyone else.
To some sanity please: I suggest you reread post #23 and search the net for the products of oil. If you are so against the production of oil don't use it or any part of it. I suggest you walk and not drive a car. And when you walk don't wear shoes or clothes (parts of them are oil by products, as well as the tires on a car and the plastic parts of which it's made). And please when you talk turn your head because you won't be able to brush your teeth because your brush is an oil by product. These are just 3 of thousands of things that are derived of oil. For anyone to suggest the amount of oil that will be produced is not enough to make a difference in what we purchase from foreign countries, every little bit helps. And that little bit is what we will not have to purchase from another country. The environment. How many environmentalists take the time to find out what companies in this nation do to protect the environment and what happens naturally before they open their mouths. Everytime I read some crap from them there is and has been a precaution for years for their every complaint or cause. They are a part and always have been for some lack of work. They have stopped various projects for which there was no excuse. IE, they are responsible for the US buying various wood products from overseas companies and for poverty in a number of areas in California and other states. And that was because they did not know what they were talking about and yet some other airheads listened. I sincerely hope they do not do this with the oil industry. We all need to be happy for those that will be able to work as they now will once again be self sufficient and take care of their families (no longer be supported by government) and the upturn in a small community that desperately needed it. And I doubt you would talk like you are if you were doing some kind of manual labor, you must have some real cushy job.
All of those great products that you can't live without have been brought to you by cheap, easy, crude oil for the past 150 year or so. Well guess what, that stuff has all been found. It's been tapped and it's in decline. The stuff in ND and the western states and in Pennsylvania is shale rock not crude oil. The stuff in Canada is sand. The stuff stuff in Venezuela is tar. Libya has light sweet crude. The good cheap stuff. That's why we bombed there and not in Egypt or Syria. Get the picture? The only reason any of those oil types that are not crude oil are economically viable now is because conventional crude oil is expensive. Historically crude sold for about $25 a barrel. Now crude is hovering around $100 and it's going much higher. Missed the gold play? Buy oil stocks. If oil weren't so high it wouldn't be profitable to frack for shale. So guess what - oil and thus gas are going to get more and more and more expensive. Most of a barrel of oil goes to transportation. Do away with that need and use the remaining now expensive crude for all the wonderful plastic products and doodads you can't live without. There is an alternative to simply saying "Well that's the way it is, what can you do?"
I think he means that we still need to find alternatives for oil!
I've chased these booms all my life, both oilfield and mining. The only sure thing is that the boom will be followed by a bust.
Kenny-1535756: In this country it isn't just oilfield and mining. It depends on who's in Washington, just look at the bust we are experiencing now--it's in the whole nation! And for what good reason?