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Dear Readers -
South Dakota residents are familiar with the Black Hills Gold Rush - but they aren't as acquainted with mining for oil. State and local leaders, businesses and entrepreneurs are trying to get up to speed on the issue so they can prepare for the challenges and opportunities that may arise when the Williston Basin Oil Boom moves south.
Barbara Peterson
Writer, Williston Wire
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| North Dakota Leaders Share Knowledge of Oil Boom with South Dakota | |
CBS News
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Amanda Scott, who is the Block Division Manager with Pete Lien & Sons in Rapid City, attended the Black Hills Bakken Conference in to learn more about how the oil boom in North Dakota could affect business. Photo courtesy Rapid City Journal. |
North Dakota officials are telling business and government leaders in South Dakota to prepare for opportunities and challenges when the oil boom moves south. More than 150 lawmakers and business leaders attended the Black Hills Bakken Conference in Spearfish, S.D., recently to talk about how officials can prepare and benefit from an oil boom. Experts said $2 billion dollars a month is being spent in and around the Bakken oil patch. "People need to eat, people need haircuts, they need to buy supplies, need to be entertained. It's opening up a broad spectrum of opportunity," said Shane Goettle, North Dakota's former state commerce commissioner. See Entire Story. | |
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Conference Discusses South Dakota's Oil Potential | |
AP/Fuel Fix
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State geologist Derric Iles, right, speaks with Denver-based attorney Lance Astrella at the Black Hills Bakken Conference in Spearfish. Photo courtesy Rapid City Journal. |
South Dakota has significant potential for oil development, but that potential has largely been unexplored, the state geologist said at the Black Hills Bakken Conference. Derric Iles said recently that while the Red River rock formation in northwest South Dakota has been producing oil since the 1950s, geologists have largely ignored the oil potential of the Three Forks and Minnelusa formations, the Rapid City Journal reported. Lawmakers and business leaders are at the event in Spearfish this week to discuss how to prepare for an oil boom similar to North Dakota's, which has pushed that state to third in oil production in the nation. See Entire Story. | |
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SD Lawmakers to Study How to Prepare for Oil Boom | |
Bismarck Tribune
 South Dakota lawmakers decided Monday to appoint a special committee that will study what the state must do to prepare as North Dakota's oil boom moves south. The increase in oil and gas drilling is expected to bring increased truck traffic, housing shortages, skyrocketing rents and the need for additional restaurants, truck stops and other services in western South Dakota. Sen. Ryan Maher, R-Isabel, said the influx of oil and gas workers will require additional law enforcement, firefighting and ambulance services. And small towns in western South Dakota will be faced with demands that exceed their current water and sewer systems, he said. See Entire Story.
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SD Economic Development Officials Watch ND Oil Boom | |
Rapid City Journal
 Economic development officials are keeping a close eye on the North Dakota oil industry. "Energy is going to be big for us; I don't know how big," said Ben Snow, president of the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership. The energy industry is one of six target areas for the partnership, which is aiming to stimulate new jobs in high-paying fields. In January, the partnership said Rapid City has added 565 new jobs in energy since 2006, with average annual earnings of $57,200. Snow said the economic impact is wide-ranging, including local businesses providing goods and services to the oil industry; North Dakota residents relocating to Rapid City to escape the roughneck culture; people from other areas of the country moving to the Black Hills and commuting to the oil patch; oil industry workers spending time and money in Deadwood as well as shopping and dining; and companies moving to the Hills because they want to be close, but not too close, to the oil play. See Entire Story.
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Editorial: South Dakota Must Prepare for Oil Boom | |
Rapid City Journal
 A gold rush brought fortune hunters and settlers to the Black Hills more than a century ago. Now some people are speculating that black gold could trigger another rush to western South Dakota. Black gold is the oil that may lie undiscovered in South Dakota in geologic formations that have led to an oil boom in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. Just how far south from northwest North Dakota the oil can be found has yet to be explored, but more than 100 people who attended the Black Hills Bakken Conference in Spearfish last week want to be ready when it happens. Not if, when. See Entire Story.
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Oil Impact Spills into South Dakota | |
Rapid City Journal
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Greg Borton, a bulk truck loader at the GCC Dacotah cement plant, loads a truck with cement. The cement plant has seen an increase in sales because of the oil boom in North Dakota. Photo courtesy Rapid City Journal. |
His pneumatic truck fully loaded with more than 65,000 pounds of cement, Rapid City truck driver Rocky Wilcox prepared Tuesday for another six-hour drive north. "On your way again," said Greg Borton, an employee at GCC Dacotah cement plant who filled Wilcox's rig with fine, powdered cement destined for use in the North Dakota oil fields. "Yep, on my way again," Wilcox said. "See you tomorrow," said Scott Drew, another bulk truck loader at the cement plant. The 63-year-old hauls cement five or six times a week to Williston, N.D., the epicenter of the Bakken oil shale formation that is fueling record economic growth for that state.
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Deadood Targets Oil Patch Workers | |
Rapid City Journal
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Deadwood entrepreneurs and city officials are trying to attract oilfield workers to their area. |
With increased bus service between North Dakota and Deadwood, boom times in the oil patch mean increased tourism for the casino town. David Will, who operates party buses and limousines in the North Dakota oil patch, is starting bus service with weekend trips to Deadwood. But he isn't the first. Several hotels in the area are already working with groups from North Dakota, and the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce has marketed heavily in the region in an attempt to bring oil dollars to Deadwood. Will's fascination with Deadwood was piqued as recently as Mardi Gras weekend. The historic town rife with casinos, night life and entertainment, drew him and he smelled opportunity, both because of the barrels of cash flowing from North Dakota's soil and the dearth of places there to spend it. "These man camps are full of guys with nothing to do," said Will, who is cooperating with local businesses. See Entire Story. | |
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ND Oilfield Workers Rent and Buy Property in SD | |
AP/Aberdeen News
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Pictured is a home for sale in Spearfish, S.D. |
Realtors and city officials in Spearfish say North Dakota oilfield workers are moving to South Dakota, some making a more than five-hour commute on weekends. Rick Tysdal, a real estate broker in Spearfish, said some of the buyers either want their families closer to where they work in North Dakota or aren't interested in living in the middle of the oil patch. Others are buying recreational property in the Black Hills area, he said. The workers have plenty of money to spend and the price is right, Tysdal said. "They can afford a mid-range home, and can probably afford an upper-range home, but they're going to be conservative and not spend all their money on housing." See Entire Story. | |
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Interest in SD Oil, Gas Leases Continues | |
AP/InForum
 Similarities in underlying rock formations continue to fuel speculation that South Dakota might have petroleum reserves like those now fueling the oil boom in North Dakota. But recent auctions of South Dakota oil and gas leases don't necessarily indicate oil companies will start digging test holes any time soon. "My reasoning behind acquiring the leases for my company ROC Oil and Gas Land Management Co. - you can consider it my charitable contribution to the state of South Dakota," said Randy Coleman, who purchased the vast majority of the lease acres in April's auction. See Entire Story.
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SD-based Company Extends Fiber-Optic Network to ND Oil Patch | |
CBS News
 Regional communication services provider Midcontinent Communications is extending its fiber-optic network into northwestern North Dakota's booming oil patch. Officials for North Dakota and the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based company recently unveiled the $3 million plan to extend the multi-state Northern Plains Network from Minot to Williston. The project will be privately funded, said company president and CEO Pat McAdaragh. "The Bakken Extension means western North Dakota will have access to greatly expanded data capacity, faster speeds and world-class telecommunications services," McAdaragh said. See Entire Story.
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Worker Shortage Leaves SD Jobs Unfilled | |
Delaware Online
Just 182,984 people moved to South Dakota between 1993 and 2010 -- about the population of Knoxville, Tennessee, according to the Tax Foundation. South Dakota is home to 11 people per square mile, compared to 87 for the U.S., Census Bureau statistics show. Daugaard is betting a plan to entice South Dakota natives to move home, and initiatives to train high school and college students for careers in fields with jobs, will change the outward migration of skilled workers and attract new ones. For many South Dakota firms, the labor shortage comes at a critical time as they attempt to ramp up to manufacture goods to fuel North Dakota's oil boom and the Midwest's growing agriculture industry. See Entire Story. | |
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| Groundbreaking at Sand Creek Town Center May 10 in Williston | |
Williston Economic Development
 A groundbreaking ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 10, at 10:30 a.m., at the Sand Creek Town Center in Williston. Governor Jack Dalrymple is scheduled to attend. A conceptual drawing for the development shows two motels and a convention center as well as hundreds of thousands of feet of retail and restaurant space. Granite Peak Website.
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| STAR Fund Luncheon May 10 in Williston | |
News Release
 The 14th Annual Williston Economic Development Appreciation & Awards Luncheon will be held on May 10 at 11:30 a.m. at the Airport International Inn in Williston. The featured speaker will be Governor Jack Dalrymple. Click Here to Register for the STAR Fund Luncheon. | |
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| 80th Band Day Festival May 12 in Williston | |
Williston Convention and Visitors Bureau
The 80th Annual Band Day Festival will be held on Saturday, March 12, in Williston! The day-long event will feature marching bands, food, floats, and fun! The parade route runs along 2nd Ave. W. and Main Street. Food and entertainment will be available following the parade at Harmon Park. For more information contact the Williston Convention & Visitors Bureau at 701-774-9041 or log on here: Williston Convention and Visitors Bureau. | |
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| Upcoming Energy Events | |
05/14-15 "Oil...Pitfalls and Preparations from the Veteran" forum
Lewistown, MT, Yogo Inn. The two-day forum costs $60.
05/14-16 DUO Conference
Denver, CO, Colorado Convention Center. http://www.hartduo.com/
05/16-17 Bakken Housing Summit
Williston, ND. http://www.bakkenhousingsummit.com/
05/22-24 20th Annual Williston Basin Petroleum Conference
Bismarck, ND, Bismarck Civic Center. https://www.wbpcnd.org/
05/30-31 Bakken Tight Oil Congress
Denver, CO, Marriot City Center. http://www.bakken-tight-oil.com/
06/11-14 North Dakota Petroleum Council Teacher Seminar
Bismarck, ND. Seminar is Full. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=88
07/24 Bakken Rocks Cookfest
Ray, ND. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=125&page=Bakken+Rocks+CookFest
07/26 Bakken Rocks Cookfest
Belfield, ND. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=125&page=Bakken+Rocks+CookFest
09/19-20 North Dakota Petroleum Council Annual Meeting
Medora, ND. | |
| Upcoming Williston Events | |
05/10-14 Entertainment Inc! Presents Pajama Top
The comedy will be presented at the Old Armory Theatre.
05/11 Williston Basin Speedway Pre-Race Car Show
The car show will be held at the Upper Missouri Valley Fairgrounds. The event begins at 5 p.m. There will be a free barbecue. The beer gardens open at 6 p.m.
05/12 Williston High School Rodeo
8 a.m. Cutting; 10 a.m. Rodeo at the Upper Missouri Valley Fairgrounds.
05/12 Williston Main Street Mile
Registration is at 9 a.m. at the Bethel Lutheran Home. The Kid's Mile; Walker's Mile and Citizen's Race will begin at 10 a.m.
05/12 Band Day Festival
The parade will begin at 10:30 a.m. Following the parade there will be food vendors and entertainment at Harmon Park.
05/12 Annual Band Day Classic Car Show
11 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Raymond Family Community Center.
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