Helping Oil Counties Catch Up With Impacts - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

North Dakota lawmakers are being pressured to send a larger portion of the state's surplus to oil country.

Representative Kenton Onstad of Parshall is pitching his plan to return 80 percent of the revenues from North Dakota's oil production tax to where the oil was produced.

The bold plan sends $2 billion to those areas.

The significant increase is a one-time allowance for only two years.

Onstad says it allows cities, counties and townships to "catch up".

He says the current level of funding is just allowing for oil impacted areas to maintain.

<< (Rep. Kenton Onstad / (D) Parshall) "Votes for milly levy and bond levy increases don't all pass. The people say they won't vote for that because "I didn't cause the problem. Don't raise my taxes because I wasn't part of it." So they point their fingers back at the state."

(Ron Ness / Pres. ND Petroleum Council) "The operators are pouring tens of millions of dollars into maintaining county and township roads. The cost of the Bakken are extremely high. And I'm here to tell you that is not going to continue. We pay that gross production tax. That is intended to go back to those communities and I think the people in those areas deserve this money.">>

Onstad says currently, 11% of the oil revenue comes back to oil producing counties.

Other oil producing states share a higher percentage with those impacted areas.

Colorado for example returns 68% of their oil revenue.