North Dakota Economic Boom | Duemelands Commercial

WILLISTON, N.D., Nov 14, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Answering the call to build permanent housing in one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States, the City of Williston today announced that affiliates and clients of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (“KKR”) including KKR Financial Holdings LLC (“KFN”), along with co-investors Pfeffer Capital and CP Realty, have acquired land to develop a high quality, permanent residential community in Williston, North Dakota.

Jun 25

Jun 20

Horizontal Drilling: How it’s done

Jun 12

ND becomes nation’s second-leading oil producer

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota has passed Alaska to become the second-leading oil-producing state in the nation, trailing only Texas, state officials said Tuesday.

May 28

May 07

Average Yearly Wage in Williams County Nearly $71,000 a Year

Williston Economic Development’s deputy director has the daunting task of tracking job creation in the Williston area. Shawn Wenko says he likes to see how Williston compares to other cities in the state. And, it’s probably no big shock that Williston leads the state in job growth.

Wenko says Williams County created over 12,000 jobs from January 2010 to September 2011. “That number doesn’t surprise me. If we could have brought housing online faster it would probably be even more. The fourth quarter of 2011 will be faster.” Coming in second in job creation was Cass County with about 7,500 new jobs followed by Stark County with just over 4,000 during that same time period.

During those same seven quarters Williams County also was number one in business creation. Over 400 new businesses were created in Williams County compared to nearly 250 in Ward and 180 in Stark counties. Wenko says he doesn’t see any stoppage in the future. “It’s a reflection of the economic activity out here – we are number one in every area and it doesn’t look to slow down anytime soon. We will probably pull away even further from the other counties,” Wenko says.

The key to continued growth is more housing. “Permanent housing is detrimental to growing this community. This summer I think we will turn a corner on housing and we will start to see a little bit of breathing room.”

Wenko adds that over fifty percent of the oil field jobs are created in Williams County and as the smaller towns get saturated that percentage could grow even more.

Williams County also led the state in personal income increases at the end of the third quarter in 2011. The average weekly wage was nearly $1,400 in Williams County, just under $71,000 a year. “That’s higher than any other city in the state,” Wenko says. Stark County was second in personal income at just under $1,000 a week followed by Cass County at just over $900.

“All of these numbers just reflect the huge amount of activity that is going on in Williams County,” Wenko says.

Conference of Counties

The Bakken formation could create another 10,000 jobs in 2012. That’s according to new research by Jolene Kline from the North Dakota Housing and Finance Agency. Kline was one of the speakers at the Elmer Jesme Conference of Counties last week in Minot.

When planning for housing, that number is multiplied by two-and-a-half for the number of support jobs it will create indirectly, then by two again for the average number of family members who move in with the workers. That means it could be a population increase of fifty-thousand this year. Kline says Divide County will have the greatest surge of growth in 2012. Conference Chairman Vern Kongslie says that while not directly impacted by the Bakken, McHenry County is feeling the ripple effect.

(Vern Kongslie, Chairman Elmer Jesme Conference of Counties) “It has caused demand for more housing in McHenry County. Such as apartments. It’s hard to find anything. Most everything is rented. Where-as, less than five years ago, you had no problem finding housing in McHenry County.”

The Elmer Jesme Conference of Counties hosts officials from eleven counties in northwest North Dakota, which allows them to go deeper in detail about concerns that can then be addressed by the Association of Counties that represents all 53 counties in North Dakota.

Source: KXNews

Hoeven Named to Transportation Committee

Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., was named to the joint Senate-House Transportation conference committee recently. The committee will be reconciling the House and Senate versions of the nation’s surface transportation reauthorization bill. Hoeven spokesman Don Canton said Hoeven’s appointment likely centers on elements of the bill he introduced. “He’s well respected for his knowledge of policy and he serves on the Energy Committee,” Canton said. “He also has two important provisions in the bill that address energy infrastructure.” See Entire Story.