Videos
1. Crude-by-rail terminal:
Bakken Oil Express, Reuters, March 15, 2013. The link will take you another stand-alone post; the first link at that post will be the link to the video. One can click here to go to the video directly. Spend some time with the video once you get over the "wow" factor. Go back and look at the varying length of the trailers; some trucks pulling one tank trailer; others have an additional tank trailer. Look at the number of wheels on the long trucks; these are not your father's "18-wheelers." At 2:44 that's a "Western Star" truck built by by son-in-law in Portland, Oregon.
Then look at the terminal site itself. Look at all the cars and pick-up trucks parked at the terminal. There maybe some car pooling and the company trucks often have a couple of workers. Each truck/car probably represents, on average, 1.5 workers at the terminal, and this is steady, high pay employment. (I assume high pay based on the average pay McDonald's offers in Williston to attract workers.)
Also, look at the countryside before you get to the terminal. This is a boom? From the reports, one would think there is not an inch of open space left in North Dakota. On the contrary, the oil industry still accounts for very little of the overall farming/industrial footprint in North Dakota.
Also, note the opportunity for an entrepreneur driving in with a "7-11" on four wheels: hot food; drinks; reading material; personal hygiene items; guns; ammunition; gloves; cameras; pre-paid cell phones; batteries; pre-loaded iPod nanos; the list goes on and on.
2. Bear Den truck hauling
3. "Fracknation, the Movie."
The comments are worth reading.
Photographs
1. Vern Whitten photography.
2. The Atlantic Monthly, March 13, 2013.
