PBS Discovers the Bakken -- Human Interest Story

Link here to PBS. A reader sent me the link; thank you.

In case the link breaks, the first few paragraphs:

In western North Dakota, near the Montana border, there's so much oil around, it almost feels risky to say it: boom -- a 1 percent unemployment rate, heavy traffic in what was once a sleepy town of 12,000 [Williston, North Dakota], nowhere to live, restaurants that close early because they can't find enough people to work at $15 an hour and others offering signing bonuses to dishwashers and fast food workers.

Geologists say there is a small ocean of oil, hundreds of billions of barrels trapped underground here in North Dakota. So, thousands of workers flocked to Williston to pull it out. Instant towns rose, instead of corn and wheat, as Williston joined a new American energy boom driving growth in parts of the West.

Just two years ago, the United States was importing two-thirds of its oil. Today, imports are down to less than half U.S. oil needs. Oil companies have known about these supplies for decades, but new technology makes the deposit, known as the Bakken, profitable to drill.

Nowhere to live? Also, no groceries.

The entire transcript looks promising.