BillingsGazette tells MHProNews Bainville, Mont. in the northeastern part of the state has a population of 300 and town budget of $250,000. ProCore Logistics LLC of Calgary, Alberta, Canada is investing $30 million locally in support of the Bakken oil boom (centered 28 miles away in Williston, North Dakota) for a mile long sidetrack railroad extension to haul sand used in fracking, for silos to store the sand, and for modular housing. The railroad is Burlington Northern, one of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire subsidiaries. As many as 600 trucks a day may be heading to the oilfields with sand. Procore and SST Bakken Properties are both building modular man camps to house the workers, and additional medium and high-end housing is also in the planning stages for the area, as are numerous hotels and other support services. At a community meeting, while many noted they will reap the profits of the rapid expansion of their town, others expressed concerned about the dust from the trucks, the draw on water and sewer resources, the mile long trains that may stymie school buses and emergency vehicles, and the upsetting of local wildlife. One of Procore’s man camps is outside Bainville where the town has no jurisdiction should it become “Testosterone Flats”, as one local quipped. John Milino, who runs Procore’s modular housing units, and expects the boom to last 20-30 years, says he will monitor the housing situation.
