Posted on 09/09/2015 2:27:53 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
Edited on 09/09/2015 4:13:26 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON
(Excerpt) Read more at bradenton.com ...
Maybe they don’t need so much government.
More domestic oil is good for our country and the world.
An entire county had a road maintenance budget of $1.5MM? I have to call bull.
The landscape following the pipeliners is pristine and reseeded ... I've seen many a pasture appear as if nothing had ever happened a couple of years ago except for the swath cut out of a treed area
Maybe you guys need a Trump negotiator
That’s cuz they couldn’t tax all of the drugs up there....
>> The crime rate has soared 60% <<
Well, in fairness, the population has soared 25%, so that accounts for almost half of the increase in the crime rate, right there. And most of those newcomers probably have few attachments.
Dirt roads in the rural areas now have to be paved. Imagine an oil boom in VT. How many roads would have to be paved, bridges widened?
“Maybe they don’t need so much government.”
The areas of the oil patch had a refreshingly minimalistic government before the boom...to the point that one county I dealt with didn’t even have a zoning code.
This is a case of people of a certain ilk looking at the glass half empty. Looking at the article, they are allegedly in this ‘mess’ because of oil...but can’t get out of it because oil prices have dropped? They want it both ways.
I’d say a little over half the people of the region would say they are better off with the boom than without it...and if you ask a follow up question to the minority that disapproves “But are you renting out a space in your driveway for an RV”, they would begrudgingly say yes.
Anyway, a small minority of government control types are downright alarmed that people are acting in a free manor in the region, and bringing up the beast itself (oil). So they came up with a study. Big deal.
I don’t believe that influx of employed (highly paid) workers will have a net drag on the economy. The ‘study’ was probably done by the same type of people who believe an influx of illiterate aliens helps the economy, though.
Bottom line - their angry government isn’t growing as fast as the (temporary) population surge.
$1.5M does seem awfully low. Maybe they only had one or two paved roads prior to the oil boom?
I know Texas invested heavily in roads, over a period of time, that really paid off in the long run.
Basically the problem is a group of small town administrators who have never had to think or plan big before.
The whole thing has overwhelmed them and they can’t see the forest for the trees.
Not saying I could do better, I am not a county administrator and don’t want to be.
I’m all for cutting off our foreign energy supplies, and forcing us to get all of our energy domestically. We made the atomic bomb, landed a man on the moon, we can do this as well.
Crime in Dunn County, N.D., in the heart of the nation’s oil boom, skyrocketed 60 percent in just three years
So I say, I say welcome, welcome to the Boomtown
Pick a habit, we got plenty to go around
Welcome, welcome to the Boomtown
All that money makes such a succulent sound
Welcome to the Boomtown
You got it. Been through there many times years ago. 2,000 square miles,before the boom about 3,000 people. One paved road goes east-west. Two roads go north-south.
Production is expected to decrease by about a half of a million barrels over the next three months or so.
That was oil output, by the way. Don’t know what the decline in the Bakken will be.
Local governments will be forced to be content with much less and compete by doing away with fees and regulations while lowering taxes during the next few years.
And govt regulations cost lots these days
I lived out there and left just as the boom got going. 1.5 million would probably be right for roads alone. Mostly gravel roads with a handful of county blade operators clearing snow and grading gravel surfaces. Most paved surfaces, and there were few, were state or federal hiways.
In the winter we literally drove on ice, many at 55 - 65 mph. This is because the roads were never scraped or salted. This is something pampered big state folks would just cry over. I used to watch out of state truckers drive on this stuff. Slide off the road, roll over. When the ditches were level with snow they never knew where the turn offs were, and just guessed and drove right into a ditch with 3 - 5 feet of snow in it.
So yes, considering how few roads there were, and how little maintenance was done, 1.5 mil is about right.
Large area, beautiful ranch country, very few people, just up the road from my hometown.
The 3,000 population figure comes from 2010, when the boom was well underway.
Call bull in Dunn County, pre-boom anyway, and it's more likely a bull would answer than a human being lol.
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