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Dispatch from the Oil Patch
The roadside is strewn with tire caps ejected from a continuous procession of tanker trucks that raise a gravel fog that partially obscures seemingly endless oil drilling rigs and pumps—a glimpse into some post-apocalyptic hellscape? No, actually, this is business as usual in western North Dakota above the Bakken Formation—a 24,000 sq. mi. 10,000 ft. deep oil deposit that could yield up to 4.3 billion barrels of oil.
The only immediate catch is oil has to be priced at $75/barrel or higher for the extraction process to be commercially viable.
The boom is so big that North Dakota has not only avoided the recession that has gripped, to varying degrees, the rest of the U.S., but has witnessed an influx of billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the state economy.
If Minnesotans consider themselves fortunate that the state unemployment rate is just 7.2% (compared to the 9.1% national rate) then North Dakotans have to be ecstatic that theirs is a miniscule 3.5%.
But, when commerce is pushed to hyper-speed, problems can occur, and North Dakota is no exception. A housing shortage that has inspired a proliferation of “man camps”—an impromptu and often mishmash of campers and fifth wheel and livestock trailers—that may meet minimum shelter requirements, but do not necessarily provide adequate protection from North Dakota’s harsh winters.
Lagging infrastructure improvements and replacement have proven problematic as well. Stretches of road, sometimes many miles in length, have given way to oiled dirt as asphalt surfaces have become impossible to maintain under the immense weight of oil transport trucks.
But, the Peace Garden state’s growing pains pale in comparison to the global implications of continued use of fossil fuels.
The North Dakota, national, and international, petro-extraction boom relies principally on hydraulic fracturing—a process that involves injecting billions of gallons of water containing often unspecified chemicals into rock formations.
In spite of what industry flaks would have the public believe, there are a myriad of ways that this process threatens water quality—a situation that a rapidly expanding global population (over a billion of which currently do not have access to clean drinking water) cannot tolerate.
Already water supplies in drought ravaged Texas have been significantly reduced by oil and gas extraction usage. With the world just coming off of the warmest six month, the warmest year and the warmest ten years on record, it seems incomprehensible that carbon-centric energy exploration and usage is actually increasing.
As NASA lead climatologist Dr. James Hansen recently said of another petro-boom—the Canadian tar sands and accompanying Keystone pipeline: “Phase out of emissions from coal is itself an enormous challenge. However, if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over.”
Like “clean coal” and “safe nuclear”, the current oil “boom” is another nail in Mother Earth's coffin—no matter how large short-term gains may appear to be.
Posted in Economic Development | Related Topics: Economic Growth Economic Recession Environment Job Growth
6 Comments
October 7, 2011 at 9:06 am
To see what the people in Red Wing are doing about the mines, go to their website: www.everythingredwing.com/nosand, thru this you can also see what is going on in WI also. No time to lose. Google the Maiden Rock mine & see the video interviews of people who live there.
October 6, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Frankly, I had no idea these mines were right around here. I’ve been worrying about the potential ones up north, near the BWCA and surrounding area.
The idea that one of the loveliest places in Minnesota, down 61, near Maiden Rock and Pepin, could be destroyed by this is frightening.
Now what do we do?
October 6, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Carl is right, Hay Creek is a target, but so is Wisconsin. The Maiden Rock mine is expanding by another 518 acres. The Pepin mine is going to take one of the bluffs you see as your drive 61 by Lake City down by 193 feet. There are now 60 properties is WI that will be mined. The big problems are water usage. The Maiden Rock mine is permitted for 3 miilion gallons of water usage per DAY. This is mixed w/toxic chemicals to wash the sand. The Chippewa Falls mine will use 200 million gallons a day. The main problem is the dust. Silica dust is a carcinogen & causes silicosis, a disease of the lungs. The Woodbury MN mine sweeps the road along the mine every day due to the volume of dust. This dust is very fine & can carry for miles. The entire driftless area encompassing 5 states is in danger of becoming West Virginia. Wake up people! We have few regulations that address silica mines directly.
October 6, 2011 at 9:53 am
You haven’t even brought up the fact that all the frack sand for the rest of the counties oil boom will be coming from SE MN and SW WI. There are billions of dollars worth of sand needed to frack these wells. The effects on MN’s infrastructure, our clean drinking water, our landscape and our health will be at stake. Research silica sand and it’s health problems. Our MN environmental organizations should make this issue a priority. Help save Hay Creek! It’s a designated Trout Stream near Red Wing. There are proposals to mine silica sand along this river.
DO SOMETHING TO BETTER MINNESOTA!
October 6, 2011 at 7:21 am
Sir,
I almost agree. But this is not a nail in mother earths coffin- it is a nail in humanities coffin. The earth will be here and fix itself over thousands of years. We will parish because of the extreme weather and lack of energy resources. It’s hard to judge if that is a good thing or not…
RealistII says:
October 11, 2011 at 11:19 am
“In spite of what industry flaks would have the public believe, there are a myriad of ways that this process threatens water quality—”
Why is it that an article can’t be written to support a position without resorting to ad hominem attacks? While I support positions that protect the environment, this article serves the cause poorly. We can’t claim the high ground while making unsubstantiated personal attacks. And the article lacks focus. Stick to the facts and don’t mix AGW fear-mongering with the environmental concerns of the North Dakota oil fields and local silica mining. Each deserves to be dealt with separately.