WATFORD CITY, N.D. (AP) High crude prices catapulted North Dakota into the top tier of the global oil market and doubled or tripled the size of small towns that had to accommodate a small army of petroleum workers.
But now those prices have tumbled. And farming and ranching communities that committed to building homes, roads and schools for the swelling population are worried about how they will pay for those improvements as oil-related tax revenue evaporates.
Dean Bangsund is an economist at North Dakota State University who has tried to help oil-rich McKenzie County gauge its needs. But none of his economic models were pessimistic enough to match how low oil prices dropped.
He says everyone is asking the same question: Where do we go from here?