The Dakota Resource Council (DRC) out of Bismarck, ND has recently released a film on living with the oil boom. It's titled: This is Our Country: Living with the Wild West oil boom.
The film was produced by D&N Cinematics LLC out of Bismarck, ND and narrated by Michael Farley. Per the DRC website, DRC Communications Director Sean Arithson said, "The film features everyday North Dakotans talking about how the chaotic development of the Bakken has affected lives and livelihoods."
We often hear about the Bakken's prosperous economy, businesses growing by leaps and bounds and of the numerous job opportunities, but the DRC takes this film one step further and speaks with local farmers and ranchers who are feeling the effects of the oil boom. In the beginning of the film, narrator Michael Farley states that North Dakota is the #2 oil producing state in the nation behind Texas, North Dakota is the fastest growing state in the nation and that farmers, ranchers and small town locals are being pushed to the wayside to make way for the influx of people arriving in North Dakota to stake their claim in the oil boom.
Jim and Norma Stenslie, formerly of New Town, ND were among several interviewed in the film. In 1968 the Stenslie's bought a lot on the shores of Lake Sakakawea near New Town. In 1969 they built their family home and began raising their children there. The Stenslie's recently sold that home and moved out of the area due to the negative impacts the "wild west" mentality of North Dakota's current oil development brought with it. They commented that they were both "angry and sad." Jim stated, "We weren't meant to live in that kind of chaos and unpredictability," while his wife Norma stated, "Why don't we care about the farmers?"
Donny Nelson of Keene, ND is also interviewed and in the film multiple times. Nelson states, "We're being sacrificial lands for the rest of the country. It was a beautiful place to live. It was very productive land, good people and you didn't lock your doors. It was the way America was supposed to be and now come look at it."
Rob Sand of Kildeer, ND commented, "It's not safe. So many women do not feel safe and probably for good reason. It makes me sad."
Theodora Bird Bear of Mandaree, ND and chair on the DRC Oil & Task Force said, "You see a yellowish haze on the horizon and that was never there before. You know if you can see it, you're breathing it." She later goes on to say, "If we don't take care of our earth, our earth can't take care of us."
Throughout the film Farley adds information: "Housing prices have skyrocketed. Crime has become an issue across the Bakken: theft, vandalism, drug rings, prostitution, assaults and homicides. Things this area has never seen have now become common to us."
Associate Professor of Psychology, DRC member, Dr. Anne Marguerite Coyle of Jamestown, ND speaks frequently in the film, "If a state isn't prepared to deal with an industry, the industry shouldn't be proceding at the rate they are. It should be at a manageable rate. It's not meshed up. It's an industry that's going crazy and that's still lagging behind, still trying to catch up with regulatory enforcement. That should tell the state government 'We've got to slow down. We can't keep issuing all these permits. We should back off.'" She goes on to say, "I cannot believe that a state government would allow such a boom without first allowing that infrastructure and having all of the safety protocol in place first."
The film ends with a quote by Theodore Roosevelt, "Here is your country. Cherish these natural wonders, cherish the natural resources, cherish the history and romance as a sacred heritage, for your children and your children's children. Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance."
Dakota Resource Council is a nonprofit, grassroots activist organization which was formed in 1978 to protect North Dakota's land, air, water, rural communities and agricultural economy. DRC is working for preservation of family farms, enforcement of corporate farming laws, soil and water conservation, regulation of coal mining and oil and gas development, protection of groundwater and clean air, renewable energy, and sound management of solid and toxic wastes.
For more information call the Dakota Resource Council at (701) 224-8587
You can also view the film at http://vimeo.com/82246373
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