Is North Dakota’s oil boom a blessing or a curse?
On a recent trip back to my home town of Bismarck, ND there
was a lot of talk about North Dakota’s oil boom. Just over 200 miles away in Williston is the
biggest oil field ever found, Bakken Field. There seems to be mixed feelings
about all this new activity in the state.
People seem generally happy and hopeful about the
opportunities, yet worried about all the unknowns. Is the fracking method they
use going to ruin the land or cause health problems later? What kind of
communities is all this development going to create? Who is going to work all
these jobs? Can we keep up with this growth rate?
The thought of new jobs, 30,000 created in the last few
years, gets people excited for new opportunities. But without enough people to
work these jobs (9 job openings for every 1 resident looking for work) what is
the quality of the applicants coming in from all over the country? How are the
demographics going to change?
To a lot of people, North Dakota is a beautiful, safe,
friendly place to live and raise a family. Will the simplicity be taken away by
all the development, growth and increased population? Will this no longer be a “nice”
place to live? What are the long term effects of all the drilling and growth? According to State Representative, Vicky Steiner, some of
the communities that were dying are now flourishing. But the onslaught of new
residents is straining public resources. Merchants are able to charge an
increased rate. Folks in town sometimes get a little upset from supporting the
industry while not receiving benefits.
I guess as I begin my research on the events taking place in
North Dakota my main question or concern has most to do with the people and
quality of life there. Is the revenue
really worth it? Who is really going to benefit in the long run from the
drilling in North Dakota?
These are some interesting questions, especially your overarching one about who will benefit. In this sense, ND and its experience may tell us something about future "booms" and the communities they impact. Of course economic prosperity sounds great, but is it "always" so wonderful? Is anything lost with that gain?
ReplyDeleteSomeone in my class last semester was also from ND and wrote her blog on a similar topic (unemployment there). Her blog is featured in the links on my blog, so you might want to browse through her sources.
Very interesting topic. I often think about the "is this a blessing or a curse" scenario. Things should get pretty interesting if you start to follow the money trail, and see who really benefits.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent question. Who does really benefit? I would love to hear about how people who went through a big oil boom somewhere else still feel about it. Did it work out well for the community in the end?
ReplyDeleteDoes your family still live in North Dakota? How do they feel now about it? How do you feel about it before you get started on your research?
I doubt we will see the end result before our papers are due, but can you find anything on it happening somewhere else? I am excited to hear about it from your perspective instead of a politician or the media. I think it will be more reliable to see the impact of a community through a former resident's eyes without all of the politics involved.
My family no longer lives there, so I have no real person ties to ND. I would love to see prosperity in ND but not at the expense of the quality of life there.
DeleteResearch on other places that have experienced this 'boom' is a great idea. I'll look into that. Thanks for the comment.