From The Williston Wire -- September 29, 2017

From the Williston Wire.

High tax state. Few people know this: in the oil industry, North Dakota is seen as a high-tax state on oil production. From The Bismarck Tribune:

North Dakota's governor wants the state to produce 2 million barrels a day, but lower taxes on oil and better access to markets in the South mean the competition for drillers is tight, industry experts and state regulators said Tuesday, Sept. 26 in Grand Forks.

"We need, as problem-solvers, to figure out how we are going to convince capital back to the Bakken," Lynn Helms, director of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources.

"There are still somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 wells to drill (in North Dakota), and we need to attract capital back into the Bakken to improve the recovery. A lot of that is going to be selling how we do technology in North Dakota."

New post office opens in Watford City. Located north of the Watford City Airport, at 1204 4th Aveue NE. The new facility is more than double the size of the previous building; has nearly 3,000 postal boxes.

McKenzie County considers hiring a county coordinator. Proposed salary if the position is created, advertised: just slightly less than $80,000.

Too crowded to attend any more for a pleasant experience: Norsk Hostfest opens in Minot, September 27 - 30, 2017. I could be wrong, and I probably am, but years ago, I thought the Hostfest lasted nearly two weeks. It's hard to believe that the festival is only four days. I remember my dad buying tickets for the Hostfest for his sibs and we would all spend several days in a local motel for a family reunion. At that time, it was often too crowded to really enjoy, and I can only imagine how crowded it must be now, but, again, I may be wrong.

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Asplundh

WSJ headline: Pennsylvania company to pay record fine for illegally hiring immigrants. Asplundh Tree Expert pleads guilty for employing those who didn’t have authorization to work in the U.S.

This company is "all over" Texas. I guess tree pruning just got a lot more expensive here in the DFW area.

A Pennsylvania-based tree-trimming company was ordered to pay $95 million in the largest fine against a company for hiring thousands of immigrants who didn’t have permission to work in the U.S., according to federal officials.

Asplundh Tree Expert of Willow Grove, Pa., pleaded guilty in federal court in Philadelphia on Thursday to illegally hiring the immigrants. Some of the immigrants were in the U.S. illegally, none had authorization to work in the country, according to court documents.

A federal judge ordered the family-owned company to pay $80 million and adhere to an Administrative Compliance Agreement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The details of the agreement weren’t made public.

 Something tells me Asplundh is not the only company guilt of such things.