Young People Leave Richmond for North Dakota Fracking Boom

On Sunday, March 17th, the Sunday Chicago Tribune features Richmond-raised Andy Turco, an oil-field worker in North Dakota.

Oil driller Andy Turco is featured on the front page of the Sunday Chicago Tribune from two Sundays ago.  He was drawn to North Dakota because of the fracking boom.

Oil driller Andy Turco is featured on the front page of the Sunday Chicago Tribune from two Sundays ago. He was drawn to North Dakota because of the fracking boom.

Why is he there?

Inadequate job opportunities in McHenry and nearby counties.

The story tells of his having dropped out of Richmond-Burton High School, then trying to support himself staining decks and plowing snow.

Almost homeless.

A buddy in North Dakota told him of employment opportunities in the fracking fields.

Less than 1% unemployment.   Illinois is 9.5%.

Now, he is working his head off (90 hours a week) on a drilling rig, the article by Ted Gregory says. Almost $100,000 a year.

He has broken out of what he calls “a teenage dropouot lifestyle.”

Illinois is now considering allowing fracking in Southern Illinois.

Richmond guys might someday get a job in Illinois.

And it is unlikely that the cost of living would be as high in Southern Illinois as it is in Williston, N.D., the center of the fracking boom.

But Democrats are determined to make sure all the job holders pay union dues.

Turco is not the only local resident who has left Illinois to find a job.

The article also mentions Ian Hernandez, his roommate.

Libetyville, North Aurora and Naperville young people have also deserted Illinois for the fracking fields.

The young woman from Libertyville found a teaching job in less than a week.

And, it’s not just people moving to North Dakota.

Talk a look at United Van Lines experience in Illinois.

Of Illinois’ 11,211 shipments by United Van Lines 60.8 percent of the traffic was outbound and only 39.2 percent inbound. This was the worst outbound rate UVL ever recorded for the state of Illinois.

Of Illinois’ 11,211 shipments by United Van Lines 60.8 percent of the traffic was outbound and only 39.2 percent inbound. This was the worst outbound rate United Van Lines ever recorded for the State of Illinois.

= = = = =
Thanks to the Illinois Policy Institute’s Diana Rickert for pointing me to the United Van Lines information.


Comments

Young People Leave Richmond for North Dakota Fracking Boom — 11 Comments

  1. Interesting list of “inbound” states, especially when you look at income taxes, which are often blamed in IL for being too high and forcing people to leave the state:

    Washington, DC – higher personal income taxes
    Oregon – higher personal income taxes
    Nevada – no personal income taxes (of course, they get most of their revenue from gaming – something tells me the right-wing doesn’t want to replace IL income taxes for Vegas-levels of gambling)
    N. Carolina – higher personal income taxes
    Florida – no personal income taxes

    So maybe we can stop placing false blame in IL tax rates for people moving out?

  2. When I was a little girl, we spent a good amount of time down state . . . I remember seeing the oil being pumped by the farms.

    I asked my Dad, why can’t we all do that”.

    He replied, the Government will not allow it.

    Farmers were limited on what they could do.

    What a shame, that they could not live off their own land.

  3. The government limiting oil drilling is the reason I don’t have a well in my backyard in Woodstock?

    I think there not being any oil there has a teeny bit to do with it, no?

  4. My friends in the oild industry say that the drilling in North Dakota is already reaching its peak.

    Once the wells are drilled, most of those people will be laid off.

    That young man may be taking home 100K/year, but he’s getting ripped off by every landlord and storeowner in sight.

    If you think energy industry work like this is a good future for anyone, you’ve clearly suckled too long at the public teat, Cal.

    Lousiana and Texas would be Edens on Earth if that were the case.

    Your argument is as intelligent as people(like you, I’d suspect) pointing at the Alaska pipeline work in the 1970s as an example of how things were working better in Alaska than in Illinois.

  5. Dave, the personal income tax is only a tiny component to overall quality of life and the economic climate.

    IL has a 2.5 Personal Property Replacement Tax aimed at all companies in addition to the corporate rate.

    IL has costly worker comp problems.

    Prevailing wage in TIF districts also make everything more costly.

    John, drilling jobs become maintenance jobs.

    I’m seeing fittings, pipes, pumps, and raw steel shipped to the Dakota’s daily.

    Demand for energy is increasing everyday.

  6. Come on people!

    Is it really so bad if the jobs created from the fracking explosion outside our state actually do dry up in the future?

    We know Illinois can’t seem to create jobs.

    It’s providing income for those people that actually do want to work instead of sitting on government funded programs.

    Some people actually want to earn their own keep.

    Can you blame them for going where the work is?

    Is it really hurting anything?

  7. Allen- maintenance jobs represent a tiny part of the (highly automated)industry boom.

    Go out to Wyoming and Colorado- you see a human worker every 5 miles or so in the completed gas fields.

    As to America using more energy?

    That’s as useful and beneficial for our future as stating ‘America spends more on health care every year.’

    All that health care spending goes into someone’s pocket- why not cheer for ballooning costs?

    As to the apocryphal stories about people not being to drill for oil in Illinois- provide one concrete example.

    There’s lots of energy production in southern Illinois- because that’s where the deposits are.

    IL deposits are deep and expensive to extract- so that’s why southern Illinois doesn’t look like ND.

    As to natural gas drilling?

    If there was money to be made, there would be drilling.

    You may want to look at the profitability of natural gas firms over the last two years.

  8. Democrats like Dave must be giddy like little girls now that the unemployment rate in McHenry County is now 10.2%

    Democrats and their corrupt greedy union bosses have ruined the state. And here they are JUSTIFYING their looting.

    Message to Democrats: People are leaving the “Peoples Republik of Illinois” for the FREE STATES, including N. Dakota. They are voting with their feet and leaving the Corruptocracy of Illinois for places that are more free. States like N. and S. Dakota. Nebraska., Texas. They are leaving you progressives to stew in your own greed and filth.

    According to George Mason University, Illinois is now the 45th freest state! This is **DOWN** from 41st last year. Keep it up, progressives, and you might knock New York out of last place by next year.

    see which states are freest. And which are sesspools of slavery. Hint, the later are all “blue” ones. http://freedominthe50states.org/

  9. Anyone who thinks people and companies don’t move out of Illinois because of taxes hasn’t talked to enough people and businesses who actually moved out of Illinois, and the people and businesses who didn’t move to Illinois. It’s not only taxes though.

    It’s regulation, it’s unfunded liabilities, it’s debt, it’s the way the state goes about running the state.

  10. To John Lovaas: Sorry buddy, but your “friend” in the oil industry is wrong.

    North Dakota has NOT reached it’s peak.

    Only 6,000 wells out of a planned 40,000-60,000 have been drilled.

    It took nearly 5 years to drill the 6,000, so do the math on how many years are left for drilling…not to mention the number of jobs created and will be created to service these wells.

    After the fact, it has now been announced that the amount of oil in the Bakken Shales of North Dakota has now “doubled”.

    The amounts will only keep increasing as the oil companies find new ways to reach and extract the estimated 100+ billions in the Bakken Shale.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *