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Low Oil Prices Could Stall Explosive Growth In Montana Boom Town

A pump-jack sits atop a oil well near downtown Sidney, Mont. The oil boom has brought thousands of new residents to the town, almost all of whom work in the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota. Sidney sits at the western edge of the Bakken oil patch, one of the most productive drilling areas in the country.
David Gilkey NPR
A pump-jack sits atop a oil well near downtown Sidney, Mont. The oil boom has brought thousands of new residents to the town, almost all of whom work in the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota. Sidney sits at the western edge of the Bakken oil patch, one of the most productive drilling areas in the country.

The "Cheerio Lounge" is one of the bars where the residents of Sidney can grab a drink on the town's main drag. Hotels are mostly still full, restaurants and bars are still busy, and hundreds of oil workers continue to move in every month, putting a strain on housing.
David Gilkey NPR
The "Cheerio Lounge" is one of the bars where the residents of Sidney can grab a drink on the town's main drag. Hotels are mostly still full, restaurants and bars are still busy, and hundreds of oil workers continue to move in every month, putting a strain on housing.

Mayor Rick Norby (right) talks with some of his staff at Sidney's wastewater treatment lagoons. Expanding the water treatment facility is just one of the infrastructure projects the mayor has had to take on as the city has grown with the influx of oil workers. Sidney is now bracing for a whole lot less revenue to address the boom's impacts, leaving them struggling with a laundry list of expenses.
David Gilkey NPR
Mayor Rick Norby (right) talks with some of his staff at Sidney's wastewater treatment lagoons. Expanding the water treatment facility is just one of the infrastructure projects the mayor has had to take on as the city has grown with the influx of oil workers. Sidney is now bracing for a whole lot less revenue to address the boom's impacts, leaving them struggling with a laundry list of expenses.

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Natural gas is burned off at a oil well site near the city center of Sidney, Mont. The small town in eastern Montana, near the border of North Dakota, is bursting its seams with new residents coming to get a piece of the Bakken oil boom.
David Gilkey NPR
Natural gas is burned off at a oil well site near the city center of Sidney, Mont. The small town in eastern Montana, near the border of North Dakota, is bursting its seams with new residents coming to get a piece of the Bakken oil boom.

A coffee cup featuring John Wayne sits on the desk of Sidney's police chief, Frank Difonzo. He's been the police chief since the last oil boom in the early 1980s. His caseload is enormous; crime is up tenfold and he's constantly playing catch up.
David Gilkey NPR
A coffee cup featuring John Wayne sits on the desk of Sidney's police chief, Frank Difonzo. He's been the police chief since the last oil boom in the early 1980s. His caseload is enormous; crime is up tenfold and he's constantly playing catch up.

New housing is sprouting up in almost every corner of Sidney.
David Gilkey NPR
New housing is sprouting up in almost every corner of Sidney.

Customers enjoy a conversation while dining at one of Sidney's main street restaurants, which serves coffee in the morning and craft beers at night.
David Gilkey NPR
Customers enjoy a conversation while dining at one of Sidney's main street restaurants, which serves coffee in the morning and craft beers at night.

The American flag waves above the parking lot of the brand new strip mall in Sidney.
David Gilkey NPR
The American flag waves above the parking lot of the brand new strip mall in Sidney.

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A pump-jack sits atop a oil well near downtown Sidney, Mont. The oil boom has brought thousands of new residents to the town, almost all of whom work in the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota. Sidney sits at the western edge of the Bakken oil patch, one of the most productive drilling areas in the country.
David Gilkey NPR
A pump-jack sits atop a oil well near downtown Sidney, Mont. The oil boom has brought thousands of new residents to the town, almost all of whom work in the Bakken oil fields in Montana and North Dakota. Sidney sits at the western edge of the Bakken oil patch, one of the most productive drilling areas in the country.

Mayor Rick Norby sits in the city council chambers of Sidney, Mont.'s town hall. He was elected to the city council in 2008, serving six years before being elected mayor last year.
David Gilkey NPR
Mayor Rick Norby sits in the city council chambers of Sidney, Mont.'s town hall. He was elected to the city council in 2008, serving six years before being elected mayor last year.

West Side Elementary School Principal John Skinner first came to Sidney as a teacher in 2007.
David Gilkey NPR
West Side Elementary School Principal John Skinner first came to Sidney as a teacher in 2007.

West Side Elementary School in Sidney, Mont., where the current enrollment in grades first through third is around 300. The school has added almost 70 new students since the start of the year, and enrollment has started to stabilize.
David Gilkey NPR
West Side Elementary School in Sidney, Mont., where the current enrollment in grades first through third is around 300. The school has added almost 70 new students since the start of the year, and enrollment has started to stabilize.

What happens when the price of oil tanks and suddenly you're faced with a whole lot less money to deal with your town's explosive growth?

If you're 52-year-old Rick Norby, you lose a lot of sleep.

"I haven't slept since I became mayor," he says. "I really ain't kidding you."

When Norby became mayor of Sidney, Mont., oil prices were at about $100 a barrel. A year later, they've fallen to roughly half that. Yet oil production has continued to churn right along.

"All the action is still happening," says Norby, who has lived here all his life. "We haven't seen a slow down one bit in anything."

The problem is Norby figures he'll get about $600,000 less in tax revenue from oil production — and an untold drop is predicted for hotel and gambling taxes — to deal with all this. That's a big deal when your whole budget is $11 million and your town now has a major highway running right through it.

Infrastructure, Services Strained

Sidney lies at the western edge of the Bakken oil patch, one of the country's top drilling regions. In the past few years, this once-sleepy farming town on the state line with North Dakota has been transformed into an oil boom city.

On Central Avenue, despite the low oil prices, a parade of oil tanker trucks still rumbles through downtown carrying Bakken crude to the refineries 270 miles away in Billings.

Norby's wearing a gray ball cap and the trace of his chew can is worn into the seat pocket of his jeans. He likes to take visitors out for a look at the divots from the wheel tracks.

"It's taking its toll," the mayor says. "This was probably [only] built three years ago."

Norby's lived here all his life and he loves Sidney. After he graduated high school he farmed sugar beets and corn. Before the oil boom, he sold the farm and moved back into town. He says he's grateful for that because he couldn't afford a house here now.

After work, the Loaf and Jug gas station is still packed with young men in muddy Carhartts filling up their pickups. Up the road, dozens of new condos with pre-fab siding are still being built.

The money coming from the oil boom pays for fundamental services that are stretched thin. Sidney is looking for $30 million to build a new truck bypass. A new $70 million water treatment plant is also needed.

Around town, there are little one-bedroom houses with a half dozen oil workers living in them. The population has nearly doubled since 2010. The police department struggles to keep pace with even routine patrols. Since 2010 when the oil boom began in earnest, DUI arrests are up 300 percent. Felony assaults are up twice that much.

"We could use three or four more people in the immediate time," says Chief Frank DiFonzo. Behind his John Wayne coffee mug, his desk is cluttered with stacks and stacks of case files.

The thing is the chief is probably not going to get the money to hire anyone new due to the forecasted drop in oil revenues. DiFonzo really needs a detective so that his officers can spend more time out on the streets.

Schools Bracing

There's a lot of uncertainty over what might happen these next few months with oil prices, and the resulting stream of oil revenue. In Sidney, schools are tied a little more closely to oil production taxes than city hall.

At West Side Elementary — a Kindergarten through third grade school — a cluster of modular homes sits next to the playground. Most teachers starting out can't afford Sidney's rents which run close to $2,000 for a one bedroom.

"You're living in limbo a little bit, with everything," says Principal Jon Skinner, a big, friendly man with a shake that will crush your hand if you're not ready. He was a star football player at the University of Montana.

Walking the halls, Skinner knows every student, which is tough in a boom town school where some kids are only here for a couple weeks then, they move. Almost a third of the students are considered special needs, because moving so much puts them behind in school work.

Lately, the extra oil revenue had helped him hire more teachers and classroom aides. They recently started a long-term facilities plan. But he says that never considered oil falling below $70 a barrel.

"We've gotten accustomed to having a little bit more funding, gradually," Skinner says. "One of my biggest fears is that tomorrow, all of the sudden, it's gone."

From the schools, to the police station to city hall, people in Sidney are worried right now about what the drop in oil prices is going to mean for them. Mayor Rick Norby says the only option is to start cutting, unless the state legislature taps emergency funds to help out boom towns like his.

"That's why we're screaming," Norby says. "We're drowning, we need help."

Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.

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