This is what a budget surplus looks like: an oil well pump. Our neighbors in North Dakota are looking at a budget surplus over a billion dollars while we hit a nearly seven billion dollar shortfall in Minnesota. Oil has a lot to do with. In areas that were once flat farm fields now feature the imposing steel structures dipping deep into the earth to recover riches. North Dakota is the 5th largest oil producing state and when oil prices soar so too does their economy.
I returned to the Williston area in northwestern North Dakota and the landscape has changed since I last worked there nearly 15 years ago. The population has grown from 12,000 to 15,000 in the past few years. Things have slowed a bit according to local folks, but the town is busy and there are high paying jobs out in the oil fields.
We saw plenty of these Halliburton clad workers in town as well as a local office for the oil giant. There are mansions going up next to mobile homes. The contrast is rather surreal. When I worked for the local NBC station as the 10pm anchor back in the 90s the town was struggling and we did many stories on local economic development efforts. Now you see "help wanted" signs on main street.
