Rockin' the Bakken!

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In the rural countryside and agriculture-based communities sparsely populating eastern Montana and western North Dakota an economic boom is transpiring via the Bakken oil formation. Oil exploration, drilling, and hydraulic fracturing processes are expanding at unprecedented rates never witnessed before in this geographic region. Colossal oil companies have invaded this once untapped dry land and are paying exorbitant fees for the right to explore and drill on private land. Landowners are reaping the benefits by leasing their land and realizing revenue streams in the millions when oil is discovered. Farmers and agricultural producers, who a few short years ago were struggling to eke out a living via low harvest yields from small grains crops on land ravaged by extreme weather conditions are now transformed into millionaires overnight. This is a tale not uncommon to this area. The residual effect of big oil moving into the region has been immediately recognized with local businesses growing and expanding to accommodate the massive influx of oil-field workers and support staff into the region. Hotel occupancies in a 300-mile radius are maxed, restaurants are busy on a 24-hour basis, and businesses are experiencing the economic trickledown effect so aptly detailed by Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s. Commerce in the region of all forms, shapes, and sizes is experiencing an increase in revenue never before observed. There is no economic recession in western North Dakota and eastern Montana. Business in all forms is, quite frankly, booming.