Big Paychecks No Homes

Well ladies and gentleman we finally have some good news to talk about, we are having an oil boom in the mid-west where thousands of folks are moving and making some good money and I mean some three figure salaries but they have no place to call home. Two reports in CNNMoney by Blake Ellis and another in by NPR staff have reported that people in Williston, ND, are living in "mancamps," in their trucks, on patches of grass and $1,600 dollar a night motels (not exactly the Ritz Calton,) because of the desperate shortage of housing. The mancamps are only huge tent like structures sectioned off where you have a basic "cell" type space of a bed, T.V. and small storage space. Some people are lucky enough to have an RV but are being charged up to $2,000 a month for a small patch to park them in. There isa Super Walmart in the town however you can't park there overnight so people go in and buy something so that they can hang out for a while and maybe grill something outside their vehicle after setting up a few lawn chairs.

Liquid Gold Oil In Them There Hills!

This is a remote section of western North Dakota that was had a population of 12,000 and at last count are up to 20,000 and counting. It seems we have been finding big oil reserves in Colorado, North Dakota and Montana. I don't know if they have started extracting in those states or not but since the area in which we are speaking of here in North Dakota are in the "Bad Lands" area, again it was not very populated. This may or may not be the start of the use of the new technology.

The New Technology "Fracking"

I looked up the term fracking in our friend "Wikipedia". The real terminology for it is hydraulic fracturing. It is the process of "utilizing pressurized water or some other liquid to fracture rock layers and release petroleum, natural gas or other substances so that they can be extracted". The article goes on to say that of course there has been debates on the effect this method of extraction will have on the environment. I say good luck with that one in terms of, number one, American's needing jobs, two, our concerns of growing dependence on foreign countries for fossil fuel and the cost. I worry about the fact that this will halt the process of finding safer methods ofclean energy for our country however.

New Population New Needs

I am happy for the people who need jobs in this country who will be able to find them, or the ones who have families and are barely putting food on the table making a better life for themselves. The need for new schools, roads, police and fire departments will be there just like in any growing town. This is a situation that has it's good and bad points and we just have to wait and see what happens because there is no stopping it now.