Link here to CNBC.
And although this presidential election is not a referendum on energy policy per se, there is an undercurrent of concern.
"I
think people in this part of the state are very nervous," Williston
Mayor Ward Koeser told CNBC. "There isn't a lot of confidence in
President Obama when it comes to understanding the oil industry.
If fracking were to be more tightly regulated, that's one thing. But a moratorium or ban is another story.
"Things
would stop here as quick as a thief in the night," said Tom Rolfstad,
Williston's head of economic development. "It would just halt it."
Rolfstad is adamant about positive efforts to limit any environmental damage from fracking.
"I
think we’ve made dramatic changes with a great deal of caution and
care," he said. "Our cleanup in accordance to laws in the last year or
two — that required every well has everything cleaned up after the well
has been drilled. It's said to cost $400,000 per well to do that
cleanup.
One comment: "If fracking were to be more tightly regulated, that's one thing." -- a slippery slope.
