Understaffed and overwhelmed, government oil field inspectors are struggling to provide adequate oversight amid an explosion of activity in North Dakota's oil patch, state and federal officials told The Associated Press.
Now this statement says it all, North Dakota is in serious need of some experienced staffing to lead this industry. Our current Director, has had little to no experience in the actual "oil drilling" field. Taken from Lynn Helms Bio :a roughneck in 1976 working summers and school holidays, now I doubt that someone who worked only a couple of summers and holidays was much more than worms corner, and that job takes little knowledge of drilling. He continued his oilfield experience as production engineer, now this job has absolutely nothing to do with drilling. This is all the work experience and drilling knowledge that Lynn Helms has, and yet states he is an expert on fracking, and knows everything about it and it's effects on our resources. His management skills do not appear to be much better, It's a fire drill every day," Lynn Helms, director of the state Department of Mineral Resources, said in an interview with the AP. "We need more properly trained enforcement people helping the industry stay on track." He makes this statement, but continues to hand out new permits faster than office staff can print them out. As in any business, when things get out of control, the business fails, as we are seeing here in North Dakota and feeling the effects already of poor leadership. So this is an acceptable excuse as to why our natural resources are being destroyed? Hundreds of oilfield spills and thousands of waste disposal sites are being untended or are infrequently monitored, this taken also from the same Bismarck Tribune article, and our Oil and Gas Department allows this to go on, issues more permits, acknowledges there is a problem, and makes no changes in this department. North Dakota definitely has some staffing issues.
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