williston

not directly about SSN..just a bit of interesting read imo


A SMALL town in the rolling prairies of North Dakota has overtaken the likes of New York and Los Angeles as the most expensive place to live in America — thanks to the fracking revolution in the new Wild West.

A survey shows that America's priciest apartments are in the once-sleepy farm town of Williston, where blue-collar work can easily pay a six-figure salary, unemployment is virtually unheard of, and the ratio of men to women is said to be 12 to 1.

According to the property website Apartment Guide, a 65sqm, one-bedroom flat in Williston costs $A2662 a month. A comparable place would cost $A1672 New York or $A1569 in Los Angeles.

For decades, the inhabitants of Williston eked out a living growing cereals or ranching cattle. They knew their town sat on the Bakken oil formation — 1650sq km of shale, holding up to 34 billion barrels of black gold — but for generations, the wealth was unobtainable.

In 2008 that changed, when hydraulic fracturing — fracking — revolutionised the US energy industry. The method of extracting oil involves pumping water, sand and chemicals underground under high pressure, to crack rock.

Proponents point to how formerly inaccessible hydrocarbons have fuelled an economic boom: in North Dakota unemployment is just 2.7 per cent. Opponents say the industry is poisoning the environment.

In Williston, the effects are profound. The official population estimate for 2012 was 18,532. Today, the real figure is two or three times greater and apartments cannot be built fast enough to accommodate a flood of migrant workers — virtually all of them male. Four men will often share a one-bed flat.

Others sleep in vast, hastily erected "man camps", where a no-frills bunk can cost $A111 a night. Those who cannot get into the camps must resort to the dilapidated camper vans that litter the streets. "Anywhere else, they'd be considered homeless," says Nat Langford, 50, who moved to the region two years ago from Savannah, Georgia — "for the money, of course". Tom Ladwig, the assistant chief of police, admits that he has "no idea what the population is right now. We suspect it's pushing 40,000." Others put it at closer to 70,000.

Most of the newcomers "are good, hardworking people", says Captain Ladwig, "but there's been an increase in the dark side of the population ... those who want to live off others." In many ways, the amount of cash sloshing around seems surreal. A waitress at a truck stop can make $A830 a day in tips.

At night, it seems that the party culture can be just as grubby and dangerous as working in the notoriously perilous oilfields. One young woman told a reporter that a group of men beckoned her over in a Williston bar. They had an offer: $A7,800 if she stripped for them.

The prostitution industry appears to be in rude health. Callgirls arrive from Las Vegas, believing that the Williston clientele are freer spenders. Some girls have made the trip after reading about North Dakota's booming economy on financial news websites. Yet many locals insist that the media's representation of the state as a new, lawless Wild West is an unfair caricature.

According to government figures, the North Dakota economy was the fastest growing in the US in 2012, for the third consecutive year. The state's growth rate, of 13.4 per cent, was three times that of its closest rival, Texas. The state's population is at its highest since the Great Depression.

In Williston, drugs, thefts and fighting have all increased, says Captain Ladwig, but he suggests that the rise in crime is still an acceptable price for Williston's new wealth. "We'll deal with it. There's worse problems to have."

Many locals say that Williston has maintained a small-town ethos: a way of life forged in the bleak winters of North Dakota, where a little neighbourliness goes a long way.

"The fabric of the town has survived the initial flood of young men," says Eric Dittar, a property developer.

Tens of millions of dollars are being invested to improve civic amenities, he says, which is good news for families. "We're seeing the genesis of a new town, with old Midwest values ... Things are changing. Men are starting to bring their women."

Isn't that last bit nice Netstockings !