Sometimes, in the Eye of a Hurricane ...

About two years ago, I suppose, I made a comment that when you are in the eye of the hurricane, where it is very calm, you may not be aware of all the activity that is swirling around you. I think that's true for a lot of Willistonites. Of course, most of us living in Williston are aware of increased activity due to the traffic, but after seeing the new industrial park west of Williston tonight, the new ONEOK cryo natural gas processing plant west of Williston (being built by Linde), and now learning from a reader of yet another industrial park north of Williston, I am absolutely convinced there are very few Willistonites aware of the totality of it all, and/or how fast things are changing.

This is just idle rambling; everything in this posting has been posted earlier today or yesterday, but now I'm trying to synthesize what I've seen.

Three New Industrial Parks

First, the industrial parks. The Bakken Industrial Park, being developed by Granite Peak Development, is four miles north of Williston, at the Epping turn-off, and at the terminus of the proposed Truck Reliever Route, a new bypass to the northwest of Williston.

But now there is a new industrial park that I have just become aware of, thanks to a reader letting me know. It's the Missouri Ridge Retail Center five miles north of Williston, or one mile north of the Bakken Industrial Park.

And now a third industrial park, this one west of Williston and quite far along. I hope to have photos of it posted by Monday. I think this industrial park is about 640 acres. It is much bigger than any of us had imagined, I think.

Three New Cryo Natural Gas Processing Plants

Linde is building three new natural gas processing plants, each nearly the size of the Hess plant at Tioga. These three plants will almost double the state's capacity to process natural gas. The value of these three plants is probably in the $550 million ballpark. These three plants will be owned and operated by ONEOK: Garden Creek, northwest of Watford City; Stateline I, and Stateline II, both northwest of Williston.

Three New Major Facilities/Complexes

The BHI SuperSite complex; the Schlumberger complex; and, the McCody Concrete complex, all west of Williston, are just three of many new buildings going up, but these three are most noticeable.

Three New Hotels

Motel 6 (bypass), Holiday Inn Express (airport), and Hampton Inn and Suites (hospital). These are in addition to all the others that have gone up in Williston in the past two years.

Three New Wells Inside or Nearly Inside City Limits

Lucy Hanson, quite a ways east, but a huge well.

The new Oasis well inside city limits currently being drilled

A two-well pad on the northwest side of town; the Dave Arnson-O'Neil wells.