Letter to the Editor: A note on oil patch workers
Carlsbad Current-Argus
A note on oil patch workers
The debate over the impact of gas and oil on our environment and economy seems to have skipped over an important facet of the issues. What about the mental, emotional and physical health of those who work in the oil patch? What place do oil booms and busts have in shaping the lives of individuals, communities and economies?
Reading Michael Patrick F. Smith’s The Good Hand which relates his nine month pilgrimage as a laborer in the Williston Basin offers some insights. It is a hard read unless you are used to seeing the “f” word on every page and in most paragraphs. He lays out an unvarnished picture of what it’s like to be a swamper in the down and dirty work of extraction.
North Dakota’s Gold Rush: A Memoir About the Fracking Boom A new book chronicles the stories of sometimes broken, often desperate men who ventured to the northern plains in service of an industry that exemplifies late-stage capitalism. Clay S. Jenkinson, Editor-at-Large | April 4, 2021
Michael Patrick F. Smith would not seem to fit the profile of an oil field worker. He’s an actor, a musician and a playwright who sublet his Brooklyn, N.Y., apartment to head out west to Williston, N.D., during the height of the Bakken Oil Boom in 2013. As he admits, “It’s a weird resume for a man applying to work in the oil fields.” Now he’s published a thoughtful and well-written memoir of that misadventure,
North Dakota s Gold Rush: A Memoir About the Fracking Boom governing.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from governing.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Promises and Pitfalls of a Modern-Day Boomtown A decade ago, Williston, N.D., became a magnet for desperate men, thanks to oil in the Bakken Formation. In an interview, author Michael Smith talks about life in an oil patch and the human cost of fueling the nation. Clay S. Jenkinson, Editor-at-Large | April 2, 2021 | Features
You can listen to the companion audio version of this and other essays in the series using the player below or on
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When the price of a barrel of oil peaked at $145 amid the 2008 economic meltdown, thousands of unsettled men from all over the country descended on the fracking boomtown of Williston, N.D. Centered atop the estimated 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil contained within the Bakken Formation, Williston witnessed over the next six years what writer Michael Patrick F. Smith describes as a modern-day
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