S02.E30: North Dakota Oil Boom

[Athena]

Segments: Revisit of Russian-led military intervention in Syria, 2015 FIFA corruption case, ISIS use of Toyota vehicles, North Dakota oil boom

[Hanahope]

Think we'll get a comment about Sepp Blatter's suspension?

[Totale]

Poor North Dakota.  Apparently, nobody cares.

[peeayebee]

I'm not sure what to say about this ep, particularly the main story. People griping about too much regulation need a reminder of what a lack of regulation does. Of course the legalese and subcontractors and so forth just work around any responsibility. It's disgusting and depressing.

 

Get Angry, North Dakota. (please.)

[Delwyn]

Poor North Dakota.  Apparently, nobody cares.

 

Maybe everyone is busy celebrating Columbus Day?

 

 

[Irlandesa]

I think people are emulating the ND folks and being polite by saying nothing at all about the oil companies. 

 

I lived in ND for a while.  It is very flat.  And the people were very polite.  Believe it or not, John barely scratched the surface about some of the negative effects of the "oil boom." 

[Hanahope]

This episode sounded like an introduction to a bunch more episodes to explore several of those topics a bit deeper.  For example, the whole bit about how companies are subcontracting for their employees.  Its a big business.  So many manufacturing companies use "temp" employees that they subcontract from PECs (Professional Employment Companies) and other 'staffing agencies.'  The PECs handle all the hiring, payroll, worker's comp, benefits (to the extent there are any), etc.  This situation definitely protects the manufacturing company from various regulations and costs.

 

 

Think we'll get a comment about Sepp Blatter's suspension?

 

Yup, nailed it.

Edited October 13, 2015 by Hanahope

[Traveller519]

Unfortunately the lack of regulation is the by-product of a young and booming resource industry. The reason places like Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have more regulation is that the industry has had time to mature in those places and strike the necessary balance between economic benefits and responsible local management. 

 

Now, in this day and age, I think you can reasonably argue that we can take the lessons learned in other places and implement them more quickly, and hopefully North Dakota will do just that. However, given the size of the Bakken and relative level of inexperience with the new formation, some of those stats aren't horribly surprising, while tragic.

 

I thought Oasis shouldered an unfair amount of the blame in the piece, to be honest. There are very few oil & gas companies of the size to horizontally integrate all levels of exploration and extraction. The model is that the exploration companies, like Oasis, focus on bringing together the talent and financing to identify land to acquire and where to drill then fund the drilling. The actual drilling is best handled by service providers through a subcontracting relationships, much like large scale construction. Oasis's investment isn't in the process of drilling, but locating the reserves.

[Victor the Crab]

The thing I remembered North Dakota for was it was a nice weekend getaway for Canadians to do their shopping. When I was in the Canadian Armed Forces, stationed at Portage La Prairie, Manitoba from the late 80s to the early 90s, Grand Forks was a popular destination for people in Winnipeg and various regions to spend a weekend doing shopping since the dollar at the time was around the lower .90 cent mark, which was pretty high then at that time. I also remember watching Prairie News Journal on public television, which had some great in depth stories around North Dakota, as well as Tangerine Dream's The Dream Is Always The Same as its theme song.

 

So it was interesting to hear about the state's booming oil industry, as well as the damaging effects that it's had on North Dakota. They need to get their shit together and soon. They don't want to be known as a worse regulator than Texas.

 

FIFA needs its house burned down. Too much vermin and pestilence are infesting the place.

[OneWhoLurks]

Sky Digital, a Fargo company that owns digital billboards statewide, is running ads with Oliver looking a bit mopey with the message: "Hey John Oliver, don't be angry. Be 'North Dakota' nice (it really works)."

 

"Hey, this is what really works in North Dakota. We play nice, we are nice, we're great people," said sales manager Paul Hilt, who is originally from St. Paul. "At the end of the day, we are a great state and we shouldn't have to be slapped in the face."

 

He said Sky Digital crafted the message with a couple of clients, who shall "remain nameless.

" Asked if the clients were in the oil industry, he said he wished he could identify them but can't. The ad ran statewide on Tuesday.

 

 

http://www.twincities.com/entertainment/ci_28968005/fargo-firm-tells-john-oliver-be-nice

[Delwyn]

So they are encouraging people to be nice and not angry about lack of safety and environmental regulations? What. I'm sure people with dead family members and destroyed farmland are baking the oil industry muffins as we speak because it's the nice thing for a North Dakotan to do. Grrr.

[Irlandesa]

Yeah.  If that's not a case of "misunderstanding the message" I don't know what is. 

 

So far the reaction in my Facebook from people who live in ND (which admittedly is skewed) is from people who get it.

[HelenBaby]

I looked at the comments on that article and the last one stated "Oliver is four steps left of Bernie Sanders. He's the left's answer to Rush Limbaugh and should be laughed at, like Limbaugh should be." WTF? Their environment is going to be a wasteland & people are dead, but we should just laugh about it? W T actual F?

[OneWhoLurks]

Minnesota man's response to North Dakota billboard company's response to John Oliver's response to lack of state oil industry regulation:

 

Yes. You read that correctly. Hold it right there, folks. That’s our term.

 

To which a NoDakian might look confused and say “You call yourself North Dakota Nice?”

 

No, you OILSOAKED HAYSEEDS — er, sorry. No, our cousins in the great agrarian plain. We say that we’re Minnesota Nice. That’s our self-congratulatory cliché that reinforces our belief in our own virtue. Choose something else, OK? We’re Nice. Got it? GOT IT?

 

 

http://www.startribune.com/north-dakota-steals-a-minnesota-cliche/333135021/

[dusang]

Minnesota man's response to North Dakota billboard company's response to John Oliver's response to lack of state oil industry regulation:

 

I really can't follow who's responding to who now. Also, I think the original message has been obscured. 

[OneWhoLurks]

Fargo, ND (WDAY TV)-Another digital billboard popped up across North Dakota at noon Friday referring to HBO Comedy Host John Oliver.

 

This one reads, "Angry/Nice, Made you look!" followed by, "North Dakota, AKA, South Dacanada."

 

[...]

 

When asked about the new one, a they said they can't talk about it until Monday.

 

 

http://www.wday.com/news/north-dakota/3862721-another-john-oliver-related-billboard-appears-statewide-nd

[Kel Varnsen]

I thought Oasis shouldered an unfair amount of the blame in the piece, to be honest. There are very few oil & gas companies of the size to horizontally integrate all levels of exploration and extraction. The model is that the exploration companies, like Oasis, focus on bringing together the talent and financing to identify land to acquire and where to drill then fund the drilling. The actual drilling is best handled by service providers through a subcontracting relationships, much like large scale construction. Oasis's investment isn't in the process of drilling, but locating the reserves.

I wish he kind of explored that deeper. I mean from what I understand there was an accident but Oasis didn't face any kind of penalties because the workers actually were employees of a subcontractor and the supervisors were employees of a different sub. Because if they did, I have a lot less of a problem with the subcontractor arrangement. Because if unsafe subs get fined or whatever, then eventually their fees they charge to Oasis are going to go up. 

[OneWhoLurks]

Stuffed in the middle of Oliver's one-liners was a snippet of Rep. Corey Mock of Grand Forks, snappy bow-tie and all, speaking on the House floor last session about the absurdity of candidates being allowed to take surplus campaign money and stuff it in their pocket. Put it in their personal bank accounts. Winners and losers. Whether it's $5, $500 or $5,000. Money given as a political donation with the intent of it being spent on yard signs or radio ads can simply be turned into personal income.

 

[...]

 

The video of Mock that HBO used came from floor debate of House Bill 1253, introduced last session by Rep. Ben Hanson of West Fargo. Hanson, like Mock, is a Democrat, and that often poses insurmountable hurdles in North Dakota's Republican-dominated Legislature. That's why Hanson recruited Republican co-sponsors from both the House and Senate. It didn't matter. The bill died decisively, by a vote of 26-65.

 

"The language I used in the bill was taken from Alaska, where there is a law prohibiting spending campaign money on personal expenses. I even watered it down," Hanson said. "I chose Alaska for a reason. It is a cold, rural, oil state. And it's Republican. How could I go wrong?"

 

Republicans like Fargo's Jim Kasper argued against it, saying there was no evidence such a thing was happening.

 

 

http://www.inforum.com/news/3867884-mcfeely-john-oliver-was-right-nd-needs-rules-spending-campaign-cash

[OneWhoLurks]

One Republican state senator's response to t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶i̶l̶l̶:
 

North Dakota Democrats, in their rush to take advantage of Oliver’s false claims of corruption, want our state to create an unelected ethics bureaucracy that would operate outside the courts and legal system, a politically partisan witch-hunt sort of committee. Never mind that there is absolutely no evidence to support that North Dakota has a problem, yet they want to take action purely for the sake of perception. Our ethics committee members in North Dakota live and work in every community and rural area. They are citizen electors. We do not need to bring Washington, D.C., style politics to North Dakota.

 

http://www.inforum.com/letters/3870901-letter-north-dakota-democrats-buy-olivers-tv-rant

 

Correction: It was apparently a response to a letter from a Democratic state senator:
 

Take, for example, the 2015 legislative session. The makeup of that Legislature was 15 Democrats and 32 Republicans in the Senate and 23 Democrats and 71 Republicans in the House—2-to-1 Republican majorities. Solutions to some of the points Oliver made in his segment were offered by North Dakota Democrats:

 

▇ Rep. Corey Mock, D-Grand Forks, offered HCR 3060 to ask the voters of this state to vote on and create an Ethics Commission. That failed in the House, 25-68.

 

▇ Rep. Ben Hanson, D-West Fargo, sponsored HB 1253 to make it illegal for elected officials to use campaign donations for personal use. That failed in the House, 26-65.

 

▇ Sens. Mac Schneider and Connie Triplett, both Democrats of Grand Forks, introduced SB 2366 to separate the roles of promoter and regulator of the oil industry in the Department of Mineral Resources. That failed in the Senate, 15-32.

 

▇ I introduced SB 2342 that would make the elected officials of the Industrial Commission—the governor, agriculture commissioner and attorney general—publicly vote on fine reductions rather than avoiding responsibility and hiding behind an underling. That failed in the Senate, 17-30.

 

 

http://www.grandforksherald.com/opinion/op-ed-columns/3868714-tyler-axness-improve-life-nd-elect-more-democrats

Edited October 29, 2015 by OneWhoLurks

[OneWhoLurks]

During my campaign, I discovered and attempted to point out violations of North Dakota’s ban on corporate campaign contributions. My opponent, the incumbent attorney general, received over half his campaign funds through a Washington, D.C.-based political action committee. This PAC solicited direct corporate contributions and then doled out large sums of money to state election campaigns of selected Republican attorney general candidates.

 

In my view, the PAC funding was illegal corporate support for a state office candidate.

 

Here’s the problem. The only enforcement mechanism available in North Dakota is to bring the matter to the attention of a state’s attorney for prosecution as a crime. That was not a good option then, and is still not today, because the attorney general is the top law enforcement official and ultimate adviser to state’s attorneys.

 

I was also shocked to learn that a violation of North Dakota’s campaign finance laws, no matter how severe, is only a misdemeanor. Contrast that with the consequences of bribing an official at a sporting event, amateur or professional, which is a felony. In North Dakota, $10 paid to a referee to bend the rules at your child’s soccer game could get you more jail time than an illegal $ 10 million campaign contribution.

 

 

http://www.inforum.com/letters/3877020-letter-more-serious-bribe-sports-official-buy-politician

[TudorQueen]

Before this segment aired, I didn't even know North Dakota was having an oil boom, so thank you, Ollie Scone, for making sure I'm at least a little better informed.

 

As for corruption in North Dakota, I was going to ask if anyone had seen "Deadwood", only to note that the actual Deadwood was in South Dakota, not North Dakota. Which makes me the hooplehead, I guess.

[Kel Varnsen]

Before this segment aired, I didn't even know North Dakota was having an oil boom, so thank you, Ollie Scone, for making sure I'm at least a little better informed.

 

As for corruption in North Dakota, I was going to ask if anyone had seen "Deadwood", only to note that the actual Deadwood was in South Dakota, not North Dakota. Which makes me the hooplehead, I guess.

At the time of the show it was just the Dakota Territory so i say close enough.

[OneWhoLurks]

Quote

 

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The new year will bring North Dakota a new law forbidding political candidates from making personal use of campaign funds.

The legislation closes a loophole that could have allowed politicians to pocket campaign cash, a prospect that worried many newly elected lawmakers and was even mocked by HBO comedian John Oliver, who in 2015 took aim at North Dakota's oil industry, its allegedly lax regulations and its political system.

Under the new law, candidates will be required to report all expenditures and maintain dedicated campaign accounts.

 

Quote

 

Democratic House Minority Leader Corey Mock of Grand Forks agreed that young lawmakers from both parties pushed hard for the legislation. But he said Oliver, the HBO comedian, probably had something to do with it.

A video clip of the bow tie-wearing Mock describing how it was possible for lawmakers to pocket campaign cash was highlighted on Oliver's show in 2015.

"I know his flannel bow tie is extremely distracting," Oliver said. "But what he's saying is horrifying."

 

New North Dakota Law Forbids Personal Use of Campaign Funds