Steady State Punctuated by Surge Activity -- Western North Dakota - Eastern Montana

With close to 200 active rigs drilling on a daily basis in the Bakken, there is a certain "steady state" that has developed. Employers can pretty much forecast what they need going forward in terms of workforce and equipment.

But with a boom like the Bakken, compounded with the seasonal activity of farming, surges in activity can create significant havoc.

Two examples:

1. The widening of US 85 south of Williston as far as Alexander, Watford City, farther? This is not a small project. The "steady state" activity of a thousand truck trips to a single Bakken well forced the spike of activity in road building. All of a sudden, a contractor had to move in equipment, truckers, and a workforce. And find them a place to live during the duration, where there was already "no room at the inn."

2. Harvesting. I think the grain harvest pretty much takes care of itself with farmers able for the most part to manage getting their grain to market. I could be wrong on that, but I have not seen or read anything to suggest otherwise. However, the eastern Montana sugar beet industry (and the Red River Valley in the east, for that matter), is a different story. See the want ads. The sugar beet industry at both ends of the state need a surge of truck drivers for a two-week stretch. I can only assume it was a challenge years ago, but now with "every" truck driver committed to the oil industry, I can only imagine how difficult it is to find truck drivers.

And then the recent decisions to stop building places for truck drivers to live crossed my mind.

Some days I am happy to only be a spectator.