I did a post on the Bakken oil boom about two weeks and noted that Williston, North Dakota with a population of only 14,716 had issued 99 building permits for single family homes in the first 5 months of this year. Here Walmart sells out of some items everyday, the McDonalds is one of the busiest in the country and pays $15. per hour to start. This boom exists not with the help of the Obama administration but in spite of it. The EPA lacks authority to restrict drilling here but has done its best to stymie it in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico.
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To keep workers some companies have built "man camps". They are modest temporary bachelor living quarters. No frills but when a guy is working plenty of overtime he doesn't need many frills.
Now if we had a government that really gave a damn it would spot some of these poor souls bus fare and ship their tents UPS and these skilled men would be working in Williston or the surrounding area within a week. Notice Catholic Charities not the government runs this facility.
Update:
The unemployment numbers are in for Williams county, North Dakota. Read 'em and weep. The unemployment rate for the county that contains Williston, a is 9/10 of one percent. Seven other counties in western North Dakota reported unemployment rates of less than 2 percent in September .Those counties are Slope (1.1 percent), McKenzie (1.4 percent), Mountrail (1.5 percent), Billings (1.5 percent), Stark (1.6 percent), Dunn (1.7 percent) and Bowman (1.9 percent).
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