VOA慢速英語:“水力壓裂”改變北達科他州景觀

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A new technology has brought a lot of development torural towns on the Bakken shale formation in the northern United States. Energy companies use the technology to remove oil from the Earth through aprocess called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The development bringsrisks and riches.

Six years ago, astronauts in space saw only darkness when they looked atwestern North Dakota and eastern Montana. But the area can now be seenfrom the International Space Station because of thousands of intense fires. They are the oil fields fueling a “red hot” energy industry in the United States.

Fracking has brought changes to North Dakota. It enables the removal of oilfrom shale deposits, like the Bakken shale formation.

The search for oil deposits has increased activity in once sleepy towns likeWilliston, North Dakota. In 2000, the state’s population was about 620,000. North Dakota State University Professor Nancy Hodur says the population isnow closer to 730,000.

“It is a record high. It has never been bigger.”

And the expansion continues to create jobs.

“We do not have as many people as we need to fill those jobs, and we gothigh participation in the workforce.”

And not just in the oil fields. Businesses are having a hard time filling jobopenings – from driving trucks…to making food in the growing number ofrestaurants.

Cam Holt owns a restaurant. He says there is a shortage of homes, whichhas caused a jump in housing prices.

“Eighty to 90 percent of the people that walked through the door here, lookingfor a job, need a place to live. At $1,500 a bedroom, even at the rates that we are paying people, it is still unaffordable. It does not make sense for them.”

North Dakota has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. It alsohas one of the fastest growing income rates. But a labor organization warnsthe state is also one of the most dangerous places to work. The AFL-CIOsays it has a death rate five times higher than the national average. Most ofthose deaths happened in areas where mining and oil removal projects aretaking place.

The work may be dangerous. But people continue to look for jobs in townslike Williston.

Dean Bangsund is an economist at North Dakota State University.

“Now we are seeing the technology is allowing us to put the wells closertogether without affecting the performance of the wells. So the ecology, and the technology and the economics is evolving.”

He says it is too early to tell what the long-term economic and environmentaleffects will be.

“This is a relatively new technology. It is being adjusted. It is undergoingtweaks and refinements as we speak. It is dealing with a portion of geologythe state has not traditionally dealt with. It is much larger, much broader incontext.”

It appears the promise of the oil industry in North Dakota will extend andcontinue to drive demand for a workforce willing to accept the risks andrewards. I’m Anne Ball.