adventure cycling, the route planning guys, recommend against going through upper north dakota, 'the northern tier' route, anymore. they now divert you to the south and basically follow I-94 across north dakota. i had a big debate with myself about which way to go. heading south added a 100 miles; didn't like that. i also wasn't excited about riding along I-94, but i was very curious about this whole fracking business and what kind of effect it was having. i had read the latest national geographic article and it sparked my interest. and, then, maybe, i'm just a little contrary.
when the time came to decide, i did what maurice would have done, i headed due east on rte 2.
i was a little surprised at one of my responses: i don't think the long term visual impact is all that bad. after everything is cleaned up, the footprint of the pump and storage tanks isn't all that great. certainly no bigger than that of grain silos. initial constuction is more disruptive. large piles of dirt fill the landscape and sections of earth are sraped clean, but it tidies up after the crews move out.
the real issues seem to be about the collateral damage. the big unknown, of course, is what it's doing to ground water. one person told me that their community's water supply is already ruined and they now get their water from 60 miles down the road. anecdotal, i don't know what to make of it.
on the other hand, the traffic impact is real. trucks. trucks everywhere. hauling dirt, stone, fluids, water, oil, machinery. and so there is road construction. and there are a lot of jobs and not much housing. there are rv trailer parks everywhere, just thrown up in the back of a companies building or along the highway. and, of course, there's a bunch of riff raff looking for jobs.
i'm told alot of it is temporary. once the drilling and fracking are done, and the wells are producing, most of the workers leave. a crew of 25 +/- will come in, drill, frack, and set up the infrastructure. once the well is producing, they cleanup and move on. they leave a pad of dirt with a well pump and some storage tanks. still a little support trucking is needed, but most of the work is done. i'm told the oil men are already shifting out of this area and heading to fields south of here and in texas. Some local people were able to take avantage of the rapid growth. truck dealers (semis and pickups) are doing pretty well, i understand. others who thought they could will be left holding an empty bag, or apartment buildings.
another interesting aspect is the energy cost to produce this oil. it takes a lot of diesel and gasoline. and then there is the off gassing. not all of it healthy, certainly not good for the environment, including some very deadly gas, such as hydrogen sulfide. this energy is undoubtedly more harmful to the environment because of the amount of carbon, methane, and other gasses released in producing the fuel before it even gets used.
i'm glad i made the decision to come this way, it's been an interesting education.
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