Through the process of capitalism fueled by energy development, communities are built, upgraded and sustained. Here is a look back at some of the best sound bytes from 2015 on developing communities in the Bakken oil fields.
On Community Development
“I cannot thank everyone enough for participating in the 3rd Annual Bakken BBQ and helping make this event possible. We had a couple bumps in the road with the weather but, all in all, the BBQ was a successful and fun event. We raised $70,000 for Make-A-Wish North Dakota, this was not possible without each and everyone who participated.”
Jackie Schmidt, MBI Energy Services, Belfield, ND
“Watford City is getting overwhelmed. The industry is concentrated on some of the more productive regions in the Bakken Three Forks. Watford City is the trade center that is closest to that activity. They are getting inundated extremely heavy. Williston went through that several years ago, probably still pretty intense activity in Williston,” Bangsund said. “Our study looked at the state economy and didn’t break it down into communities, rural areas or things of that nature. The intent of what we are trying to do here is measure an industry over a very large economy and we try to avoid the individual communities since our model has been calibrated to the state level.”
Dean Bangsund, research economist, North Dakota State University
“That tells me it isn’t all oil related. I would say over the past 6 months 90-95 percent of all our inquiries we non oil related. From retail to manufacturing to agriculture. They are across the board. If we can benefit from any of the oil plays that surround us with businesses, industries or manufacturing or anything related to the oil fields, we’d love to be that. But I appreciate that we can be diversified here and still accommodate the shale plays like the Bakken. Yet not be so narrowly focused that it is all oil related.”
Hollie Stadler, executive director, Belle Fourche Economic Development
“It’s kinda like I always thought back in the Gold Rush in California the people who were the most successful were the people who had the hardware store not necessarily all the miners. So I thought what are the services missing in the Bakken, so I thought a car wash and a Jiffy Lube are a couple of those projects. I just love (doing business in) western North Dakota.”
Rick Berg, entrepreneur and former U.S. Congressman, North Dakota
“We’ve got to make sure we have quality of life throughout North Dakota and certainly throughout western North Dakota. And with the energy development and the growth come growing pains and we have to address those, and that certainly means state, federal and local governments, but the private sector being good corporate citizens and company partners. This is a long term energy play and long term growth and development for our great state. We need to continue to work together in the public and private sector to maintain and continue to grow that quality of life. There is a lot more to do here because of the growing pains but we are committed to improving the quality of life for the people.”
US Senator John Hoeven (ND-R)
“I have been in charge of Tioga’s Pick Up the Patch for the past couple years and each year seems to be getting bigger and better. Not only have we just had local companies and volunteers but we have also had companies and volunteers from the surrounding communities come help out. I think that each year we have done the Pick Up the Patch in Tioga it has been a huge success. Each year we cover more miles than the last. This benefits the community in a way of appearance. The main area we cover is coming in from Highway 2 to Tioga. Ditches completely full of garbage is not what we want newcomers first impression of Tioga to be.”
Patricia Hove, Finance Specialist, Neset Consulting Service, Tioga, ND
“It’s great to be able to support various community ventures financially – sometimes that’s what’s needed over direct manpower. Enerplus is a hands-on company, though. I’m proud to say that our monthly Adopt-a-Well program with the 8th graders at Mandaree School is a very popular event for employees to present at. Coworkers want to take the initiative to participate in parades, and hand out candy. In events where we help fix-up houses, or playgrounds, I’ve even learned which of my colleagues I’ll be calling to help retile a bathroom, or fix my sink! The bottom line is that not only do Enerplus employees work in North Dakota, they live there, too. When we support a community initiative, we’re taking care of each other, our neighbors, and the people we haven’t had a chance to meet yet.”
Jessie Koerner, Communications/Public Affairs Coordinator, Enerplus
“Everybody saw oil, but nobody saw the gravel trucks, the accidents and the other things that come with it. That’s the one thing I think needs to be pointed out. Which is you have to look at the unintended consequences. You have to look not for market affordable housing, but wage affordable housing.”
Tim Holte, Superintendent of Stanley School, North Dakota
“Even though we have oil trading in the mid-40’s, taxwise we are still collecting about $131 million dollars a month in oil at gas taxes. So in many respects we are still holding pretty strong.”
North Dakota State Tax Commissioner Ryan Rauschenberger
“We know where the edges pretty much of the Bakken are. We’ve also completed what I call the ‘homesteading’ phase. Where in 2012 we had 218 rigs chasing lease hold all across the Bakken play trying to de-risk that leasehold. And so those rigs would pick up and move a 150 miles at the drop of a hat. It was completely random and chaotic in terms of all of our thinking.”
North Dakota Mineral Resources director Lynn Helms
“It’s a complicated issue on how to someway somehow collect that gas, those vapors, and get them to our water heaters and furnaces. You need pipelines and landowners to allow the pipelines to cross their property. Then the pipeline company needs to be a good steward, needs to work with the landowner. It’s a very complex process and any kind of weak link in that chain can present a problem and makes the solution very difficult at times.”
North Dakota Public Health Jim Semerad, Manager Permitting and Compliance
“Three pieces of property caught our eye, all in Dickinson, and none of them were on the market. The next week our project manager and I were living at the Rough Rider Inn located in Medora. By the second week of November we were under contract on the Five Diamond Industrial Park. In January we completed all the due-diligence, finished the final plat, and were closed. Our shopping Center project was a much more challenging undertaking in some ways, but in the end it will be the highlight of the city of Dickinson and well worth the effort. We have a few other properties that we are looking at in North Dakota, but for now the focus is completing our current projects. When we’re done building our projects in North Dakota, we will have built out an area almost half the size of Central Park in NYC. We will continue to move forward on our real estate projects in Southwestern North Dakota, and see a prosperous 2015 and 2016.”
Brian Hymel, partner, Five Diamonds Fund Manager, Salt Lake City, Ut
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