Some man camps are becoming ghost camps in the oil patch, especially in Mountrail County where only five of the 23 camps whose operating permits expire this year have applied for renewal. Another 11 are done and cleaned up, and seven are in the wind, with no forwarding address.
The dramatic drop in drilling rigs to 68 is the puppeteer behind the empty or disappeared beds, but some decline in the man camp population may come from camps being put out of business.
In Williston, Mayor Howard Klug planned to throw down the gauntlet Tuesday night at the Williston City Commission meeting. He intends to make this the last year for any temporary housing permits in the city and its extended zoning territory going forward.
This would follow Williston’s Planning and Zoning recommendation Monday night to close them all as permits expire, despite the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce's position that the market should decide.
“I’m trying to get everything lined up for the big fight (Tuesday) tonight,” said Klug, who makes no bones about his position on taking that kind of housing off the town map, whether it’s in large man camp complexes or smaller company trailer sites.
There are 3,600 temporary beds in Williston city limits or its extended one-mile zoning territory — about half and half in each, said city planner Donald Kress.
“I would like to see them go away,” said Klug, adding that it’s time for workers to double down on Williston and become part of the community. “The apartments and housing have caught up now.”
A website lists 370 homes for sale in Williston, 141 in Watford City and 530 in Dickinson. Apartment rentals aren’t centralized, but a quick Internet search shows hundreds, if not thousands, for rent across the oil drilling region and construction still going strong.
In some areas of the oil patch, the man camps and temporary sites for RV’s and campers are ghosting out, if not going away, on their own.
Capital Lodge, a big operator with more than 1,000 licensed beds in the far eastern edge of Williams County, has about 100 occupants this month, according to information shared at a public meeting in Beulah this week. The company wants to build a crew camp there for a mega fertilizer plant under construction.
The nearby Target Logistics lodge is also “struggling” with occupancy, according to Klug, and has already moved some of the Lego-like units to Watford City, where many remain empty.
Klug said he met with camp operators Monday and learned that some near Williston are still far more full than empty. He attributes that to quarterly housing contracts that haven’t yet expired, consolidation of camp operators and the fact that drilling has retreated to what’s being called a “core” area.
As of this week, there are 11 rigs drilling in Williams County, the same number as there are in Mountrail and Dunn. McKenzie County, with 27 rigs drilling, is far and away the hot core right now, but Williston is home to major oil service companies, such as fracking giants Halliburton, Baker-Hughes and Schlumberger.
Williams County Commissioner Dan Kalil said temporary housing is an asset for a certain type of worker, the one who treats the Bakken basin like the North Slope of Alaska and rotates in and out.
“But I do believe that in the next three to four months, you’ll be able to shoot a cannon down the hallway,” Kalil said.
The county is upping the ante, too. Starting in 2016, it will charge an $800 annual fee per temporary bed, twice the fee now. If that seems like a lot, “It’s not, compared to a lodging tax,” Kalil said.
In Mountrail County, planning administrator Don Longmuir said the county hasn’t taken new applications for temporary housing permits since 2013 and existing permits are issued for two years at a time.
“My overall perception is that they are starting to dwindle. The reason for them has gone away,” Longmuir said.
