Advancing the Possibilities in Grand Forks
North Dakota’s oil and natural gas industry pays more than $2 billion dollars a year to the State of North Dakota in production and extraction taxes. That figure doesn’t include the millions of dollars more paid to the state in royalties and what our companies and mineral owners pay in state income taxes and sales taxes. All-in-all, our industry accounts for 50% of all tax revenue the State of North Dakota generates every year.
Not bad, but the North Dakota oil and natural gas industry’s positive impact on the people of North Dakota doesn’t just end with taxes paid. We employ over 15,000 people in good-paying jobs and thousands of more jobs are created in companies that serve our industry. Our companies have also donated millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours to causes across North Dakota.
Of course, most people assume that the economic impact of North Dakota’s oil and natural gas industry has been limited to western North Dakota. While our footprint in western North Dakota is large, our benefits extend across the entire state.
Take Grand Forks for example.
The state taxes generated by our industry were used to pay for the new UND School of Medicine and UND Law School buildings. Our state taxes also paid for most of the cost of the new Grand Forks water treatment plant. And course, don’t forget the millions of dollars for street and road maintenance. In all, $457 million dollars have flowed from the oil fields in western North Dakota to Grand Forks County over the last 10 years.
Our industry also does business with over a dozen local Grand Forks businesses and we works closely with the UND EERC and the UAS industry on finding solutions to the challenges our industry faces and to reduce the environmental impact of oil and natural gas developmen
And we can’t forget the generosity of the oil and natural gas industry in any analysis of the impact on Grand Forks County. The UND Alumni Foundation reports that oil and natural gas related donations have topped $10 million to date and that doesn’t include the additional $10 million donated by Harold Hamm of Continental Resources to UND for the School of Geology and Geological Engineering.
And while we, like most businesses, are dealing with low prices and reduced demand due to the COVID-19 economic impact, our future in North Dakota is bright. The Bakken is a world-class oil and natural gas enterprise and our companies have invested billions into infrastructure to deliver that natural resource to our state and nation for decades to come. On behalf of our entire industry, we look forward to advancing the possibilities, now and in the future, in Grand Forks and across North Dakota.
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