Have you heard what’s going on in North Dakota these days? Some have compared it to the 1849 gold rush, except this time it is an “oil rush”!

It’s happening in the western part of the state and it’s happening because of fracking. It is estimated that there are 170 billion barrels of crude oil sitting beneath the Bakken shale foundation, stretching across 200,000 square miles.

The USGS estimates that we’ll be able to extract 7.4 billion barrels of crude oil from Bakken along with 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas! Here are some other facts about this boom:

1. Oil production in ND has increased more than 600%, bringing ND up from the eighth oil producing state to number two in the last seven years.

2. An estimated 40, 856 new jobs have been created in the oil industry plus 18,000 new jobs to support the industry! North Dakota has about a 3% unemployment rate but this region is down to only 1%.

3. Each well needs 2,000 truck trips in its first year, increasing the area’s traffic from 1,400 cars per day to 14,000 cars!

4. McDonald’s can’t keep up with the influx of new customers in the area and desperately needs workers, so they are offering $15.00 hour to employees plus a $300 sign on bonus!

5. The area’s population is expected to grow by 50% in the next 20 years.

6. Taxpayers earning more than $1 million has almost tripled, and while our country is drowning in debt, North Dakota has a billion dollar budget surplus!

Okay, everyone planning to move to North Dakota this year, raise your hand.

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