North to Dakota

LASN Editor Steve Kelly

All new residential, commercial and light industrial properties in Williston, N.D. must be landscaped as of Jan. 1, 2013.

Williston, N.D., in the northwest part of the state near the Montana border, has never had landscape requirements, but that will change beginning Jan. 1, 2013. Ordinance 959 will place aesthetic requirements on all new residential, commercial and light industrial properties.

Why, you may wonder, has remote Williston (pop. 16,000), which averages freezing temperatures throughout the winter and annual gets 45 inches of snow that blankets the landscape, suddenly decided new development must meet landscaping guidelines?

While many out-of-the-way towns stagnate and decline economically, Williston is booming with a capital B, and Williston Mayor Ward Koeser has witnessed "his" town go from bust to boom. In case you've missed it, the oil industry is spending about two billion a month out here drilling wells. That figure comes from Tom Rolfstad, Williston's economic development director. The Bakken rock formation in northwestern N.D. and northeastern Montana is the focus of the drilling. It is the largest oil-producing shale in the continental U.S, with an estimated 34 billion barrels of oil within.

Williston Mayor Ward Koeser wants "his" boomtown to be prettier, although he notes the landscape requirements are very basic, i.e., if the land is graded and some sod goes in, that's acceptable. Potential buildings that do not meet the landscape requirements will simply not be granted permits until developers change their plans.

North Dakota is now the No. 2 producer of oil in the U.S. behind Texas. Most everyone in these parts is employed, and many jobs are being imported. My son, Adam, is one example. Adam is 28, with a MA in history. He has been doing substitute teaching here in Southern California. A friend encouraged him to undergo training for corrosion inspection (yes, there's a corrosion association) to land a good paying job. Adam is now inspecting welded pipeline joints in northwest North Dakota. Typical temperatures out in the field are minus 20. He has to make sure painters heat the pipes sufficiently (and that the dew point is within the proper range) to apply heavy-duty paint to the pipe welds to keep corrosion out. He will be earning well into six figures.

Housing in these parts is getting harder to come by. Fortunately, my son and his corrosion inspecting partner are housed in a new apartment in"?(R)?.wait for it"?(R)?Killdeer, N.D., pop. 751.

P.S. While the U.S. imports 20 percent of its energy, the International Energy Agency predicts the U.S. will become the world's leading oil producer by 2020.