flacaltenn
Diamond Member
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- #41
More evidence that Govt will be YEARS behind in helping to support this burgeoning economy...
Imagine that --- $25MILL for public education infrastructure. Millions more that they weren't REQUIRED to contribute to HELP GOVT cope with the success.
Those damn greedy oil companies. Couldn't they wait for the govt to claim credit for the economic miracle???????
North Dakota Oil Boom Brings Blight With Growth as Costs Soar - Bloomberg
The gravel road that borders Dave Hyneks North Dakota farm is designed to carry 10 tractor- trailer trucks a day. In a recent 24-hour period, about 800 passed by.
Some are traveling 90 minutes west to Williston, where schools Superintendent Viola LaFontaine expects as many as 3,800 students this fall, about 57 percent more than her primary schools were built to hold.
Its absolutely destroying our infrastructure, said Hynek, a Mountrail County commissioner, as he sat in a pickup truck on the 1,400-acre farm where his family has grown wheat, flax and sunflowers for four generations.
Hynek and other commissioners in the states largest oil producing county expect service needs to continue exploding as more workers flood the area.
We have 800 wells -- they tell me theres going to be 6,000 more in five years, Hynek said. It scares the hell out of me. They say youd better get prepared for 50,000 more people.
Higher tax receipts fostered by oil-industry revenue are helping finance a new water pipeline, rehabilitation of the state penitentiary and renovation of the states heritage center -- even as calls for more housing and funding for school construction go unheeded.
The states three-year-old boom, which attracted thousands of workers to 17 western counties, is progressing so quickly that studies commissioned to determine infrastructure needs are outdated the moment they leave the printer.
Five hotels are being built in Williston -- home to 14,500 people in 2010 and about 20,000 today -- and officials expect 1,200 apartments and single-family homes to be completed by summer. With 4,000 job openings, even that wont be enough.
The North Dakota Legislature set aside $1.2 billion last spring to help counties cope with the oil booms impacts. About $885.3 million remains to be distributed.
Demand for aid is high. The state received 167 applications last fall for $50 million in road improvement grants alone, said Gerry Fisher, assistant director of the states energy infrastructure and impact office.
Oil companies say theyre doing their part to help western North Dakota cope. Houston-based Marathon gave $1 million in Dickenson, Continental donated $500,000 in Crosby, and New York- based Hess Corp. (HES) contributed $25 million to the state for public education, said Ron Ness, president of the Bismarck-based North Dakota Petroleum Council.
Imagine that --- $25MILL for public education infrastructure. Millions more that they weren't REQUIRED to contribute to HELP GOVT cope with the success.
Those damn greedy oil companies. Couldn't they wait for the govt to claim credit for the economic miracle???????