McKenzie County Coming To Terms With Address, Locations Of Temporary Living Units, Emergency Response

The AP, with a Bismarck byline, is reporting that McKenzie County getting a handle on addresses and locations of all the temporary housing units in the county, necessary if emergency responders are going to respond in time. It's an interesting story with several story lines:

The new rules require that "man camps," temporary housing complexes for oilfield workers, and RV parks obtain permits and addresses, enabling 911 dispatchers to pinpoint where people are temporarily living.

Officials also decided not to kick people off land for not having a permit, knowing they would set up somewhere else, but rather work to get them the right paperwork.

Samuelson noted locals weren't keen to permits: "If you wanted to put a pig farm next someone else's farm, you could do it." But after the storm, he said, they may be rethinking their position. "We used to be rural," he said. "We aren't any more."

McKenzie County's population was pegged last year at about 9,300 people, nearly double from a decade earlier and the highest since 1930. North Dakota is now the nation's second top oil-producing state, behind only Texas, and McKenzie County alone accounts for a third of the state's oil output. 

"McKenzie County, with no planning and zoning, was kind of a free-for-all," said Kenan Bullinger, the director of the state Health Department division that regulates temporary housing. "I think they do have a handle on it now."