Oil Tour: Lawmakers - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Oil Tour: Lawmakers

North Dakota is reaping millions of dollars a day from oil.
The state's reserve is expected to exceed 2-billion-dollars next year.
But deciding how much of that will go back to oil country is the big task lawmakers will tackle next session.
Some recently traveled to oil country to get an unfiltered view of the problems facing the oil patch.
Donnell Preskey has the exclusive story.

It's 6:30 a.m. in Williston, North Dakota… and the morning commute looks more like bumper to bumper traffic in Minneapolis…  
 (Drovdal) "There's nothing like on hand experience, where you can feel the traffic, smell the dust, oil see challenges that this economic boom has for us."
Traffic…Crew camps… Construction…  they are exploding in what used to be a slow paced, rural and quiet part of North Dakota.
 (Nathe) Just to see how overwhelmed they are with everything. They are truly drinking from a fire hose right now with different issues.
Lawmakers who serve in the North Dakota House, in leadership positions, want to know the challenges, see the problems and hear solutions.  
 (Headland) When look at all crew camps and mobile trailers, can see that housing is an issue. Of course roads are in bad shape.
 (Carlson) "We knew roads were bad, have to deal with them. We knew the schools needed more space but didn't realize the housing of teachers was that big of a deal for them."
Lawmakers take it all in… This is the homework - for a big project six months down the road...
 (Carlson) "We can't give them everything they want, but we'll listen and take that to heart, back to legislature and see what we can do with the state's role in assisting them with problems they have.
 (Vigasa) " I would say it's going to be the most important session in ND because we've got the chance to make an impact in the west."
The challenge come next session - will be deciding how much of the oil revenues should return to the land that's bearing the brunt of the activity.
(Vigasa) "It's important to recognize that a lot of revenue is coming from the west, there's a lot of needs in the east too."
(Headland) "There's going to be money spent out here. But finding the level that we can sustain and other cities will believe is proper. This isn't the only area in the state with problems."
(Drovdal) "This isn't just western ND, this is benefiting all of ND. There's a cost to doing that and we need some help with that to keep quality of life and keep infrastructure up."