With crude prices reeling from the effects of geopolitical wrangling and surging production, it’s a tough time to be a resident of an oil boom town. Although drilling in areas like North Dakota’s Bakken oil patch has generated hefty revenues for once quiet communities, it’s also led to an increase in crime. As the Washington Post noted last year, “the arrival of highly paid oil workers living in sprawling ‘man camps’ with limited spending opportunities has led to a crime wave — including murders, aggravated assaults, rapes, human trafficking and robberies — fueled by a huge market for illegal drugs, primarily heroin and methamphetamine.”
While this would be a rather undesirable situation under any circumstances, collapsing crude prices are beginning to leave some towns cash-strapped, which means less resources to dedicate to things like deterring crime. Meanwhile, production isn’t slowing down, which means boom town populations aren’t declining alongside revenues. According to NPR, this dynamic is leaving some communities with a combination of decaying infrastructure, less money for public schools, and inadequate manpower to combat sharply higher crime rates. This comes as monthly expenses like rent skyrocket in the face of surging demand.
Via NPR:
What happens when the price of oil tanks and suddenly you’re faced with a whole lot less money to deal with your town’s explosive growth?
If you’re 52-year-old Rick Norby, you lose a lot of sleep.
“I haven’t slept since I became mayor,” he says. “I really ain’t kidding you.”
When Norby became mayor of Sidney, Mont., oil prices were about $100 a barrel. A year later, they’ve fallen to roughly half that. Yet oil production has continued to churn right along.
“All the action is still happening,” says Norby, who has lived here all his life. “We haven’t seen a slowdown one bit in anything.”
The problem is Norby figures he’ll get about $600,000 less in tax revenue from oil production to deal with all this. That’s a big deal when your whole budget is $11 million and your town now has a major highway running right through it…
The money coming from the oil boom pays for fundamental services that are stretched thin. Sidney is looking for $30 million to build a new truck bypass. A new $70 million water treatment plant is also needed.
Around town, there are little one-bedroom houses with a half dozen oil workers living in them. The population has nearly doubled since 2010. The police department struggles to keep pace with even routine patrols. Since 2010 when the oil boom began in earnest, DUI arrests are up 300 percent. Felony assaults are up twice that much…
Continue reading “Drugs, Prostitution, Violence Plague Oil Boom Towns Gone Bust”
