..some info on the Sidney area as related to the Bakken Oil boom (Billings: RV park, for rent)

[Montana Griz]

The following (random) bits of info have come directly from life long residents of Sidney who are business owners; bank officiers; officiers on the Economic Development Board; and folks on the School District Board in Richland County.

I mention this data to possibly further enlighten those folks who are thinking about (even though they are "behind the curve") possibly seeking employment (and living accomodations) in the Sidney area.

Consider the following:

There are NO Vacant lots In Sidney (or the surronding area) that do not have one or more Campers or Trailers (RVs) on them. ... And the typical monthly cost to rent THAT space for your Camper or Trailer is approx $500.

If you can find "just" a "room for rent" (living accomodation) it could cost as high as $800/month.

Virtually all "farm yards" and vacant space on local ranches has been rented out to folks with Campers, Trailers etc.

A high percentage of Grain Bins no longer are used by ranchers for storing Grain.....what are they now used for??............."FRACKING SAND"!! And his Grain Hauling Trucks are now used to haul Fracking Sand.

It is estimated that : >>"for every new well that is drilled and brought-on-line a thousand Truck Trips are required to transport the ONE MILLION gallons of water AND ONE MILLION pounds of Sand (much of whcih is being imported from China)to do the "fracking"......THEN another 1000 Truck Trips are required to transport that water/sand mixture retrived from the well before it can begin producing Crude Oil!!! A recent Truck/Traffic Survey conducted in Sidney indicated there are 7500 TruckTrips through Sidney every day--7 days a week.

And then you have the families that have moved there that have school age children.............Since they have come from various parts of the country, you end up with many. many, many children that are 2 to 3 years behind the educational level of the local Richland County school children--in their respective grades....the ramafications of this situation alone has caused significant problems.... Plus the impact on the existing school facilities, the existing sources of funds and just the overall impact of an increase of student numbers ....(at present over 120% increase in students across all grade levels)........has created an impossible situation for the educational system in that area!!!!

The above described conditions are just a fraction of the number and type of problems that have resulted from the Bakken Oil Field Boom.

(NOTE:....If there are folks out there that "take issue" with what I have posted...............don't "slam" me as being a "doom sayer" or crepe hanger......I have only relayed information that I deem to be reliable.........as having come from those that live there, own businesses there, ranch there, etc, etc, etc .)

[ElkHunter]

Thanks Griz, very good description of what is going on. Like you said, that is the tip of the iceburg.

You didn't cover other things like, "How are the restaurants covering the influx of people?" or "Is the service industry keeping employee's so they can maintain service? i.e. local McDonalds, Burger King, etc..." or "Do the few filling stations have lines yet?"

Plus, I would be within this page of posts, somebody will ask, "There's got to be somewhere to rent, they can't all be taken can they?" or "Well, I'll just put my camper in an open lot, they can't all be taken?" or "There's got to be rv space available, right?"

It's a nasty situation, that is just getting started. Big oil threw a fit when Wyoming started to limit well permits to keep, exactly this, from happening. Too many area's were wrecked because they boomed and busted, so the state finally said, "Permits will be issued so that an area can handle it." They issue permits that will stress a local economy, but not devastate it.

[jasper12]

Interesting info..thanks.

[JimBaker488]

Question for Griz and Elkhunter: I'm curious, do you gentleman vote "thumbs down" on the whole "Bakken Oil boom" in your area because of it's disruptive effects upon your society/environment, or do you just feel it's been poorly managed by the participating Oil & Gas corporate entities and local/regional government authorities and a better job by those two groups would make the whole process more tolerable ?

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

Question for Griz and Elkhunter: I'm curious, do you gentleman vote "thumbs down" on the whole "Bakken Oil boom" in your area because of it's disruptive effects upon your society/environment, or do you just feel it's been poorly managed by the participating Oil & Gas corporate entities and local/regional government authorities and a better job by those two groups would make the whole process more tolerable ?

First off, the Bakken Oil Boom will not effect me at all.

The Bakken Oil field is going to be exploited. The speed of which it gets done is going to depend on State and Local Government. Look at the wells right now, they are all over NorthWest North Dakota, but the magical thing called a "State Line" stopped the flow of oil. It hasn't migrated to the West yet.

IMHO, North Dakota has failed, miserably. Who says that all of the oil has to come out of the ground at the same time? Those wells are permitted by the state. You would think the state would limit the number of wells in a particular area so that you don't flood the countryside with thousands of people. No, the state of No Dak permitted everybody that walked through the door with money in their hand. The state failed to protect, or take care of, the Counties.

The Counties and towns also failed. They were aware of the boom almost 2 years before it happened. Then it did happen and started ramping up for over a year before towns like Williston said, "Oh oh, we have trouble." The boom is almost 3 years into it and the town of Williston, just in the last month or two, decided to build a RV park to help with the problem. Williams County did the same thing. So now, there are two parks going in that will house approximately 900 rv's total. There are currently over 400 rv's parked on the streets in Williston. The company's, about 4 months ago stopped hiring people that didn't already have housing of some sort. I don't think 900 RV spaces are going to do the trick because right now, the Bakken Oil Field in North Dakota is short, 7000 employee's. There are streets and intersections that should have been rebuilt 2 years ago to handle the traffic. They are now doing traffic studies on those streets to see what can be done. It's too late. Some of those intersections see 9000 trucks per day and the city is now looking at starting construction?

What a mess.

Montana has not encountered those problems, yet. Yes, there are border towns like Sidney that are seeing a major increase just because it is so close.

If Montana limits the permist so that there are not all the permits in one area, maybe some of those towns can keep up or plan ahead. I noticed that several months ago there was a meeting of major players (meeting was in Billings) to see what infrastructure was needed to stay ahead of the boom. At least there is planning being done in Montana. Montana needs to stay ahead of the problem, not do like ND and try and play catch-up after the boom hits.

Fracking of oil is expensive. The price of gas needs to be above $2. a gallon in order to make fracking feasible. If the boom hits the entire region all at the same time, what is going to happen to the price of fuel? It's going to drop and then you have hundreds of rigs setting all over the country doing nothing, until the price comes back up. Look at Wyoming in the early 70's. Big boom hit, they opened wells all over the place and by 1972, 70% of those well were capped because they couldn't sell the oil. When they cap wells, it takes time to uncap and start production again. So you get a chain reaction like traffic. One car slows down, traffic backs up, then traffic goes again...... You don't get an even flow unless you limit things.

It will be interesting to see what Montana does in the near future. Are they going to limit permits or have they already let the cat out of the bag?

[Mt-7]

good post EH, I think that ND is a good lesson for Montana, remember we are a big state with an east, mid and western side.
The western side IMO will have a big deciding factor.

[Montana Griz]

Originally Posted by Mt-7

good post EH, I think that ND is a good lesson for Montana, remember we are a big state with an east, mid and western side.


>>>>>The western side IMO will have a big deciding factor.<<<<<

Hey "7", please expand on the above statement.......I honestly don't understand what you are "getting at" by this statement. I guess I must not be as sharp as I think I am................no really, I don't understand.......and it bothers me that I don't grasp what you are trying to convey.___________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _____________

On another subject:.........Now that you've gotten "a taste" of how "things are" and "the over-all climate & living conditions" over here in N/W Montana.............had you known "how it is over here" .........would you have moved 2 or 3 years earlier?

I'm just courious................no hidden agenda here........just askin'!

[Mt-7]

Of course my friend, not to get off topic but I have enjoyed my experiences on both sides of the state, I would say the eastern side folks are a bit more standoffish but that just goes with the isolation of the towns, all that is changing with the oil push IMO. No I am thinking that the western side seems to be a bit more environmentally minded so I have heard that will prevent the run on drilling like it is in ND.

[JimBaker488]

Thanks for the comments guys, especially your well thought out remarks there EH.
Anyway, I saw the Montana Gov on the CNBC/Market show the other day and
was surprised to hear him say he was a Dem and was going to endorse Obama this year after hearing him ramble on for some time like a Republican/Business-man and brag about the Montana Economy and say he definitely supported the Keystone pipeline. Didn't hear him say much about Bakken, but maybe that's a tougher sell in your state ?
Gee I wonder how your Gov feels about the Prez giving the high-5 to *****-marriages ? Think he's on board with that ?

[Mt-7]

Originally Posted by JimBaker488

Thanks for the comments guys, especially your well thought out remarks there EH.
Anyway, I saw the Montana Gov on the CNBC/Market show the other day and
was surprised to hear him say he was a Dem and was going to endorse Obama this year after hearing him ramble on for some time like a Republican/Business-man and brag about the Montana Economy and say he definitely supported the Keystone pipeline. Didn't hear him say much about Bakken, but maybe that's a tougher sell in your state ?
Gee I wonder how your Gov feels about the Prez giving the high-5 to *****-marriages ? Think he's on board with that ?

Seems he and the president share many of the same ideas, however Obama did put off the decision on the pipeline. I think the Gov is a person who cares about the state and does a good job at promoting us but he is a democrate and they like republicans have few forks in the road and tend to march to the same drum.
I cannot see how the marriage view is going to win it or lose it for anyone, all I want is for the troops to be supported and someone to remember they are there.