We have a tremendous story to tell here in North Dakota. The energy industry is leading to unprecedented opportunities for our citizens, our state and our country. We face challenges to be sure – but we can meet those challenges. The media focus on negative aspects of energy development is misguided at best.
We are introducing a new website www.fracbabyfrac.com to spread the truth about energy development in North Dakota. Please check out this website and give me your feedback.
A recent editorial in The Forum (October 31, 2011) decried the oil impact on tourism. Apparently, our state is better off when hotels and motels have rooms that go un-rented during the week so that tourists can get a room on the weekend! I love North Dakota but tourism will never have the economic impact of our energy and agriculture sectors.
This media focus on the negative misses the bigger point – even those directly involved in the Bakken can sometimes lose sight of the magnitude of this story. North Dakota will be the #2 oil producing state by the end of 2012. We are already rivaling some of the smaller OPEC countries in oil production.
North Dakota currently has about 6,000 producing wells and we are nearing 500,000 barrels a day in oil production. Texas is the #1 oil producing state at over 1.2 million barrels per day – but Texas has 150,000 wells!
The average Bakken well pays over $10 million to mineral owners, $6 million in tax revenue and $1.5 million in wages over its productive life. We will drill another 2,000 wells in 2012 – these numbers are staggering.
But this blessing faces serious headwinds with the EPA and other federal agencies. Our success in the Bakken is not a given. Just look at Alaska. Alaska’s oil production is less than 600,000 barrels a day and dropping. Alaska has vast energy resources, perhaps even some unconventional oil plays like the Bakken but federal regulations and extreme environmental groups have put much of Alaska’s resources off limits. As good as the story is for North Dakota we should not be producing more oil than Alaska.
Please take a minute and post a comment on www.fracbabyfrac.com about what the Bakken means to you. Click here for more on this subject.
Together we will tell the story about North Dakota.
Rep. Bette Grande represents District 41 in North Dakota’s legislature and is a candidate for the NDGOP nomination for the US House.
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