Three East Coast Journalists Heading To Williston To Write A Book On The Bakken Boom

Why? And how you can help, from their website:

The problem is there is very little coverage of what’s happening in North Dakota. The area has only one small newspaper, which allocates most of its coverage to sports. Williston’s boom has received little in-depth coverage from major media outlets – reporters drop in for a week and collect anecdotes, but quickly return to their regular work thousands of miles away.

We’ll be spending the summer there to write a book, take photos, and film a short documentary about these men and their families and find out what’s really going on in the area. We’ll be uncovering the stories that aren’t being reported, and let the voices of the men and women living there be heard.

This is where you come in. To complete the project, we’ll need enough money to cover the basics. Because of the housing shortage, Williston, North Dakota is outrageously expensive, and the average one-bedroom costs $2,000 a month. To live there over the summer will cost $4,000 in rent alone. We’ll be blogging and giving daily updates on our progress so supporters can follow along. Let’s go to North Dakota together.

"The problem is there is very little coverage of what's happening in North Dakota." I just googled "Bakken" and got 18,000,000 hits in 0.26 seconds. 

They will be here this summer. [Is it just me or have other folks noticed that out-of-staters don't stick around during the winter if they don't have to? LOL. Seriously, if they are only staying for three months, only during the summer, they are missing 90% of the story. Anyone can drill for oil in perfect weather: what impresses me are the roughnecks who do this during some of the worse winter weather imaginable.]

Their site provides details what donors can expect to receive for their monetary donations. The $10,000 funding goal has been met. 

Disclaimer: this is not an endorsement. I have no connection with these journalists. This is simply reporting information folks might otherwise miss.