Radioactive Waste Story In LA Times -- Old Story; Banks In Western North Dakota Limiting Deposits Due To Tsunami Of Money -- July 27, 2014

Link here. Regular readers are well aware of this story. Google "bananas milliondollarway" and you find this post, dated April 13, 2014 -- well, I guess it isn't that old -- just a few months.

On a brighter note a reader sent me this link: some banks in western North Dakota continue to limit the amount of money that can be deposited; the banks are simply receiving too much money to manage/lend. The Grand Forks Herald is reporting:

Total deposits in state-chartered banks in North Dakota totaled $7.7 billion in 2006, and nearly doubled to $13.7 billion in 2012, according to the North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions.

But this was most intresting:

Among the banks that has seen deposit growth increase significantly since the end of 2005, just before what’s considered the start of the oil boom, is Choice Financial based in Grafton, N.D. Deposits there increased from $282 million to $585 million by March, according to the FDIC.

Brian Johnson, Choice CEO, said certain industries have seen more loan growth than others over the past few years. He said the bank’s portfolio was roughly 70 percent agriculture-related 10 years ago, whereas it’s less than half today.

The Grafton bank was probably singled out early in the story because it's a relatively small town, albeit a very important town for rural North Dakota. However, the town is located on the opposite side of the state from the Bakken, and its growth has nothing to do with Bakken.

In Grand Forks itself:

Meanwhile, total deposits at Grand Forks-based Alerus Financial grew from $557 million at the end of 2005 to $1.2 billion in March.

Later in the article it was noted that a New York City bank was interested in acquiring a bank in Harvey, ND. Harvey is also located nowhere near the Bakken.