An oil boom for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation

An unprecedented oil boom has struck a remote Indian Reservation in West Central North Dakota. During the past year, the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation has seen investment into oil well drilling that is unlike anything seen in the US. The oil drilling can now provide jobs for anyone on the reservation who wants one. The Fort Berthold Reservation Authority hopes to put money from tax revenue of the oil drilling to fund health care, infrastructure improvements and more.

From this Associated Press article that we found at NPR, we read more about the oil boom.

"There is probably more opportunity here than people have had in their lifetimes," said Marcus Levings, chairman of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Roads are now sometimes clogged with traffic, including Hummers and expensive pickup trucks. The local casino is buzzing with free-spending locals. And tribal members who had moved away to find work are now moving back for the abundant good-paying jobs.

Tribal officials say the oil has helped right a wrong done to the tribes in the 1950s, when more than a tenth of the reservation was flooded by the federal government to create Lake Sakakawea, a 180-mile-long reservoir.

Oil companies are now drilling beneath the big lake, using an advanced horizontal drill technique. Recently completed regulatory paperwork removed the last obstacle.

Since the boom began, lease payments of more than $179 million have been paid to the tribe and its members on about half of the reservation land, tribal record show. Millions of dollars more in royalties and tax revenue are also rolling in.

Levings said the tribe will use its money to pay off debt, and bankroll such things as roads, health care and law enforcement.

The reservation contains portions of six counties, covering more than 1,500 square miles. It lies atop a portion the oil-rich Bakken shale formation, which the U.S. Geological Survey estimates holds 4.3 billion barrels of oil that can be recovered using current technology. The agency said the Bakken was the largest oil deposit it has ever assessed.
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State demographer Richard Rathge said 28 percent of people on the reservation were living in poverty in 2000, the latest figures available. More than 40 percent did not have a job at that time.
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Adding to North Dakota's homeless problem

With many unfilled oil jobs in North Dakota, people are arriving to try to fill the openings. For those who don't do the research on housing and the job requirements, it could make them homeless for a while. This adds to the homeless population already in the state, where few shelters exist especially in it's many rural areas.

From CBS News, this Associated Press story highlights the problem.

Many of the job seekers came to North Dakota without researching jobs or housing, said Louis "Mac" McLeod, executive director of the Minot Area Homeless Coalition. They arrive to find they are unqualified for the work that exists, or if they land a job, they can't get housing, which is scarce.

"If you got a roof over your head, stay there," McLeod advised. "We want people to come to North Dakota, but we don't want people coming here and not being able to survive."

Most don't understand how severe North Dakota's winters are, he said: "Put your hand in a freezer for five minutes - welcome to North Dakota."

Eric Cisneros, 27, drove 700 miles from Colorado to North Dakota about three weeks ago on a tip from a buddy who landed a job in the oil fields. He's been spending nights in his truck or staying with new acquaintances in Minot. The town of about 36,000 is home to a college and a U.S. Air Force Base but has no permanent shelter for the homeless.

Most of North Dakota's smaller cities and towns lack shelters and other services for the homeless. That may be because large-scale homelessness hasn't been a widespread problem before.

Last year, 987 homeless people were counted in a survey that recorded people encountered by volunteers in a single day, said Michael Carbone, executive director of the North Dakota Coalition for Homeless People. That was an 18 percent increase from the previous year's count of 836. This year's figures aren't yet available.

Cisneros said he plans to tough it out even though North Dakota is "probably the coldest place on the planet."

In Colorado, he worked as a laborer and carpenter, competing with dozens of people for each job. In Minot, he found a job as a cashier at a truck stop and has applied for oil industry jobs.

"Initially, it's been tough in North Dakota but in the long run, I think it will be worth it, because there are jobs here," Cisneros said.

North Dakota has about 8,500 unfilled jobs and the lowest jobless rate of any state, at about 4 percent.

Many people in N.D. living in poverty have college degrees

from The Bismarck Tribune

Many North Dakota graduate students are unemployed or working only part time, county social services officials say.

Figures from the 2000 census show 10 percent of North Dakotans living in poverty have a college degree.

The figures are part of a trend over the past two decades, state Data Center Director Richard Rathge says. The figure was 9.1 percent in 1980 and 9.6 percent in 1990.

The federal government defines poverty according to income level and family size - currently $9,800 for one person, or $20,000 for a family of four.

The proportion of college graduates living in poverty is especially high in Grand Forks and Cass counties, which are home to the state's largest universities.

In Grand Forks County in 2000, 21.6 percent of those in poverty had a bachelor's degree or more; in Cass County, the rate was 17.1 percent.

The high rates likely are skewed by large numbers of graduate students who are not working or only working part time, Rathge said. Social services officials in both counties said that contributes to the high level of poverty-stricken college graduates, especially if the students have children.

Ed Christ, assistant director of social services in Grand Forks County, said many jobs listed with Job Services pay from $8 per hour to $10 per hour, wages far below those in business management or the professions.

"I know there are a lot of jobs available, but they're in that range," Christ said. "In this area, the professional positions are pretty limited."

"It's those underemployed people" who tend to live in poverty despite a college degree, said Kathy Hogan, director of Cass County Social Services.

"I think jobs are changing at a faster rate than educational systems are," Hogan said.

"There's a rising expectation of what employers want," Rathge said. "There's a mismatch between their skill levels and the type of employment that's available."

Despite the numbers, Rathge said, a college graduate's earnings are, on average, almost twice those of a person with only a high school diploma.

"The value of education is indisputable," Rathge said. "I think the people of North Dakota know this, that education is the key to a better livelihood."