Since the advent of hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota now rival Saudi Arabia for annual production. Well over 100,000 workers have come into this sparsely populated region, and more arrive daily. They live in temporary housing, often right next to work sites. Huge trucks everywhere clog the roads, and rapid home construction cannot keep pace with demand. A high energy level pervades towns and work sites that is reminiscent of gold rushes in the early-day American west. Century-old homestead houses crumble beside mine-sites for scoria (a pumice-like material used for roads, drilling, and well sites).
