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Bring home the bacon from the Bakken

Are you one of the millions of people, who are still unemployed, and wondering how you are going to bring home the bacon? We’ve all heard the many stories about the people and places struggling just to hang on, or keep their doors open for business.  Just this week, we heard President Obama, present his jobs plan, but it has to pass through the Congress, and well, who knows how much longer that will take.  People are tired of waiting for answers, to the worst economic crisis in decades.  It’s time to be bringing home the bacon again!

In spite of all the doom and gloom, there is an American city, experiencing an economic BOOM.  YUP, these are boom times in North Dakota!

Where’s the Bakken?

So, where is the Bakken?  It’s in the  town of Williston, North Dakota, and there are jobs everywhere.  The problem is, there are not enough people there, to fill all the jobs that are available. This is happening almost nowhere else in the country, so many jobs, there aren’t enough people to fill them. “Help Wanted” signs are everywhere. They have the lowest unemployment rate in the country at 3.2 percent, and they ARE bring home the bacon.  So, what’s it all about?

What’s the Bakken?

Back in November, 2008, I wrote the post What’s the Bakken.  There’s billions of barrels of oil inside a rock formation called the Bakken. The formation located in the Williston Basin, stretches for 14,000 square miles in North Dakota, Montana and parts of Canada. It is more commonly referred to as “the Bakken.”  The formation was discovered decades ago, however, we only recently have accessed the massive reserves located there.  It is estimated that there are a minimum, of 500 billion barrels of light sweet crude, that can be produced from the Bakken.  That is a resource base worth at least $5.3 trillion. They are bringing home the bacon from the Bakken!

The irony of this story is, YOU can find a job.  Some, that even pay around $100k a year, but, you can’t find a place to live. The area is new to the growth and BOOM, it is experiencing. Currently, there are people building houses, but, they are sleeping in campers, and going to work. Even hotels are being built, to house the newcomers to the Bakken area.

Thousands of trucks overwhelm the country roads, and wide open spaces, on a daily basis.  Williston, the town at the center of the Bakken oil boom, is frantically trying to respond to the overwhelming growth and demand. It is estimated that in less than two years, the area will have hundreds of homes, thousands of apartments, a school and even a mall.  The ripple effect is enormous, and across hundreds of miles, there will be many new towns, and developments cropping up, to accommodate the needs of those new to the area of the Bakken.

Who would guess, that there is a Wal-Mart, that sells out of items every day? The Williston McDonald’s, is one of the busiest in the country, paying $15 an hour, to attract workers.  These jobs, have people coming from as far away as California, Texas, and Alaska, and soon to be from everywhere, in the U.S. Employers are paying double and triple the average wage, to get the help they need.  Since 2004, oil production in North Dakota’s Bakken region, has increased on an average of 22% per year.  Last year, North Dakota ranked 4th, out of our 31 oil producing states.  Proof, they are binging home the bacon from the Bakken!

I’m not saying that oil is the answer to our economic woes. However, this is like opening a gold mine. It can at least lead us to oil independence, and put many American’s back to work.  I can’t help but believe, that the Bakken holds many more answers to our energy and economic crisis, than just oil. It at the very least, is a great place to start the journey toward putting people back to work, energy and foreign oil independence, and conservation.  We can be bringing home more than bacon from the Bakken!