Williston Economic Development

The Downtown Street Fair originally scheduled for June 5-9 has been postponed until further notice.  Fair lovers are encouraged to attend the Upper Missouri Valley Fair (UMVF) June 26-30!  The UMVF will feature rides, games, fair food, exhibits and concerts. Country music singer Craig Morgan, The Johnny Holm Band and 80's bands Warrant Trixter and Firehouse will highlight the musical entertainment.

Williston Herald

by Jerry Burnes

A planning and design company has been contracted to review downtown Williston.

Williston State College on the Cusp of Important Upgrades

Building a Better Tomorrow Campaign

Important state investments are on the way to Williston State College, designed to continue bringing the facilities and experience on the nearly 50-year-old campus up to today's high standards.

"Our campus has to be something meaningful for the student, it should provide a sense of belonging," said Ray Nadolny, president of Williston State College. "Everything should be inviting, on a smaller scale than a large-size university, but a quality experience regardless of size."  Read More.

NewGeography

The number of tech workers in Williston has grown 324% since 2001, and 93% in the last three years. Although there are only 928 workers, they are getting paid a median hourly wage of $46.29 and those paychecks have already had significant economic impact on the state. That's what an oil boom will do for you.  Read More.

Bloomberg/Houston Business Journal

When it comes to picking a college major, for students seeking the highest rate of return, Anthony Carnevale, the director of education and workforce at Georgetown, told Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers" that petroleum engineering and other technical degrees associated with energy production would be good choices during the next 10 to 15 years.  Read More.

Forbes

Recent graduates of the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SDSM&T) earned more on average than those graduating from Harvard, Bloomberg News reports. The median salary of the Rapid City school's graduates was $56,700. By contrast, the median salary of Harvard graduates - where the tuition is nearly four times as high as at SDSM&T - was $54,100.  Read More.

Prairie Business Magazine

By Robb Jeffries 

Energy jobs in the west and technology jobs in the east are driving ND's economy.

The Enterprising States report, prepared yearly since 2010 by North Dakota-based Praxis Strategy group, breaks down each state's economic performance into five categories: exports, business climate, talent pipeline, infrastructure, and innovation and entrepreneurship. Each category is further divided into subsections.  Read More. 

Prairie Business Magazine

by Mikkel Pates 

Darin Anderson, Valley City, N.D., farmer, board president, Northern Plains Nitrogen, Inc., plants corn and applies starter fertilizer at his farm west of Valley City, N.D., on May 13. (Mikkel Pates/Forum News Service)

But he's also looking ahead. Anderson, 35, president of the board of directors for Northern Plains Nitrogen, which has announced plans to build a $1 billion to $1.5 billion fertilizer factory near Grand Forks, N.D., is a fifth-generation farmer just west of Valley City, N.D. A 1999 graduate of North Dakota State University some 14 years ago, he farms with his father, Bruce.  Read More.

Mother Jones

The US agriculture is highly reliant on synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, and nitrogen fertilizer is synthesized in a process fueled by natural gas. As more and more of the US natural gas supply comes from fracking, more and more of the nitrogen fertilizer farmers use will come from fracked natural gas. If Big Ag becomes hooked on cheap fracked gas to meet its fertilizer needs, then the fossil fuel industry will have gained a powerful ally in its effort to steamroll regulation and fight back opposition to fracking projects.  Read More.

Prairie Business Magazine

by Katherine Grandstand 

Adam Carson, inside sales at Consolidated Electrical Distributors in Dickinson takes a phone call at the business' northside warehouse on May 17. (Forum News Service)

Coming to Dickinson and Williston made North Dakota the 48th state to host Consolidated Electrical Distributors - neither South Dakota or Minnesota have had the honors.

"We've opened two locations in less than a year here in North Dakota," Manager Kyle Schwan said. "Obviously the market warrants it - warrants the attention that this part of the country's getting."  Read More.

Bismarck Tribune

by Lauren Donovan 

Jackson Kysar, 20, right, was still 17 when he saw the opportunity in a small garage and filling station in downtown Alexander.  Also pictured is Derek Kysar.

He was still 17 when he and his family moved to Watford City in 2011 from Washington, where the family's cabinetry business was just barely hanging on.

They scouted around for the right chance; and one day, Jackson sat over at the cafe on Alexander's main street -and watched the vehicles going by, counting hundreds every hour.

Across from the cafe a "For Sale" sign hung in the window of R&L Oil, a small garage and filling station.  Read More.

Williston Leads ND in Commercial Airline Growth for April 2013

News Release

More than 7,000 passengers boarded commercial airlines at Sloulin International Airfield in April.

Airline travel in North Dakota is up over 10% from last year's record-breaking numbers. Williston currently leads the state in growth, boarding two and half times the number of passengers compared to April 2012. Williston, Bismarck, Fargo, and Grand Forks airports all had their highest April boardings on record.  Read More.  April Airport Boardings.

Divide County Journal

A group of 15 Crosby investors voted recently to add a lounge, restaurant and liquor store onto the Guardian Inn, located off ND 5 on Crosby's southern edge.
Construction of the facility will begin as soon as the necessary permits are in place, with opening targeted late this year.
"Our members are taking a proactive approach to meeting the needs of the community," said Grow Crosby President Lynn Buck, in a press release.  Read More.

The Motley Fool

It's hard to argue the fact that Bakken has become a game-changer for U.S. oil production. While it was discovered in the 1950s the play wasn't economically viable until more recently. Since producers began developing the play in earnest, it has produced some truly incredible numbers. Here are the 10 most incredible numbers from North Dakota's black gold mine.   Read More.

FoxNews.com

Energy companies are lining up for their shot to drill in the Williston Basin after a new government report revealed that a massive geological formation stretching across the states contains twice the oil and three times the amount of natural gas than was originally believed.  While the new estimate is drawing smaller companies, the larger players like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Continental Resources are pushing forward with ambitious multi-year plans.  Read More.

Reuters

By Ernest Scheyder

Steve Mortenson owns the Trenton Water Depot and sells water for 65 center per barrel.

It's not that they lack water. They are swimming in it, and it is free for the taking. Yet as the state's Bakken shale fields have grown, so has the fight over who has the right to tap into the multimillion-dollar market to supply water to the energy sector.  Read More.

Sidney Herald 

Sidney Mayor Bret Smelser couldn't believe what happened.
After a legislative session that whittled down a number of proposals for oil and gas impacted communities, help came down to just one option. House Bill 218, which would've allocated $35 million of oil and gas mineral royalties to communities (cities, towns, tribes, counties and schools) in eastern Montana, was the last-ditch effort after two years of legislative and state department tours of oil and gas country. The bill's final version easily passed both houses  -  only to be vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock the following week.  "I feel like we've been betrayed," Smelser said.  Read More.

Sidney Herald

by Louisa Barber 

Gov. Steve Bullock told participants of the Eastern Montana Energy Expo that legislators left him to balance the budget, forcing him to veto House Bill 218 - the oil and gas impact funds for eastern Montana.

Bullock, in his keynote address at the conclusion of the Eastern Montana Energy Expo in Glendive recently, said legislators left him with 200 bills, "and the budget they passed spent $21 million more than what we were bringing in," forcing his hand. The governor vetoed HB 218, allocating $35 million over two years of federal mineral leasing royalties to eastern Montana.  Read More.

Butte County Post

Belle Fourche, SD has benefited economically from ND's oil and gas industry.

Belle Fourche sales tax collections were up 8.56 percent in 2012 over 2011, according to the South Dakota Retailers Association, "And I don't think that's anything to sneeze at," chamber of commerce executive Teresa Schanzenbach said this week.

First quarter 2013 reports overall are encouraging, too, she said.

January was 11.3 percent above 2012, February was up 29.2 percent and March was up 4.2 percent.  Read More.

Rapid City Economic Development

by Benjamin Snow

Located on the eastern edge of South Dakota's Black Hills, Rapid City serves as the economic hub for a broad swath of the High Plains. It's a trade area that extends out 300 miles and includes dozens of counties in five states. The region serves a population base of nearly a half-a-million people.  Read More.

Bismarck Tribune

The way some see it, landing a job in oil-rich North Dakota these days carries only one requirement: a pulse.

It may be true that almost any functioning adult without a long criminal rap sheet can probably land a job in a place where Wal-Mart is offering jobs at $15 an hour and some Dairy Queens close one day a week because they can't fill employee shifts.

But it takes more than just showing up to get a job at an established company in the oil game, like MBI Energy Services.  Read More.

Rapid City Journal

Tom Marshall, a geologist with South Dakota Geological Survey, takes notes while gathering samples from the lower Minnelusa formation west of Hermosa for a study about sands that would be good for use in hydraulic fracturing.

the Black Hills contains fracking sand, a key ingredient used in the oil-and-gas recovery that is driving energy expansion in neighboring states.  It might not be fracking sand, too. Only time and tests will tell.  Tom Marshall and Mark Fahrenbach are the ones to figure that out. As scientists for the South Dakota Geological Survey, they're hunting these days for suitable fracking-sand deposits across parts of the Black Hills.  Read More.

WDAY

The South Dakota Highway Patrol is activating a four-person squad in the western city of Belle Fourche, in response to an increase in traffic associated with the booming oil patch in western North Dakota.  Read More.

Williston Economic Development

by Rachel Sawicki

Elks Youth Day, an annual event in Williston highlights the honor students at Williston High School. The students "act" as city leaders for the day. The above collage shows some of the students with their respective counterparts at the City Commission Meeting held on May 14.

05/28                Williston City Commission

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at City Hall at 22 East Broadway.

06/06                Williston Vector Control District Board Meeting.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Williston Vector Control Shop.