[00:00:06.02]
[rumbling drum beats]

[00:00:27.03]
- One of the things I always feel

[00:00:29.01]
when I think of North Dakota is the wind.

[00:00:35.01]
Nothing else around you.

[00:00:37.00]
Just turning and facing the
wind and feeling it against you.

[00:00:44.00]
And of course, I mean, the sunset.

[00:00:47.00]
Our house always faced the sunset.

[00:00:56.00]
[country western guitar music]

[00:01:04.06]
I guess I never realized how
much land defined a person.

[00:01:14.00]
When I left home and realized

[00:01:15.05]
that most people didn't have land,

[00:01:18.04]
it was kind of surprising to me.

[00:01:21.00]
[calf mooing]

[00:01:22.09]
[dogs barking]

[00:01:26.04]
I had no idea how much
a part of me it was.

[00:01:30.04]
And it sucks [laughs].

[00:01:34.08]
[country western guitar music]

[00:01:51.06]
- You wanna go chase some cows?

[00:01:53.03]
If you're with me and you do it good,

[00:01:54.04]
I won't have to get the whip out.

[00:01:58.06]
Jeez.

[00:02:05.02]
- I'm the youngest out of four kids.

[00:02:08.00]
We were raised on a
farm outside of Trenton.

[00:02:11.05]
♪ It's where the train meets the tracks ♪

[00:02:13.01]
♪ Where the rubber meets the road ♪

[00:02:15.01]
♪ What will end up
happening, Lord only knows ♪

[00:02:17.06]
♪ But I've a feeling I'm
gonna be changed forever ♪

[00:02:21.02]
♪ When the clouds part
or the stormy weather ♪

[00:02:27.00]
When I went to college,

[00:02:28.03]
a lotta people thought
that it was a bad idea

[00:02:30.02]
to send their kids to a
private college in Minnesota

[00:02:32.08]
because they were too liberal.

[00:02:34.05]
And my mom, she never
expected me to come back.

[00:02:37.01]
♪ Marley Crossing ♪

[00:02:39.05]
♪ Where angels and demons
share a cup of tea ♪

[00:02:42.06]
♪ And where I kneel before a god ♪

[00:02:44.03]
♪ that I once stopped needin' ♪

[00:02:46.00]
♪ Back when I didn't know about war ♪

[00:02:53.00]
[laughing]

[00:02:54.02]
[soulful blues music]

[00:02:58.01]
I totally fell for a guy

[00:02:59.03]
'cause he gave me this album [laughs].

[00:03:03.07]
But he had a girlfriend.

[00:03:07.01]
And then I realized it
was the album I liked.

[00:03:18.08]
[farm equipment whirring]

[00:03:29.06]
- Now I'm deaf [laughs].

[00:03:33.03]
I've been ranching up here
for about eight years.

[00:03:36.09]
I've always just liked livestock,

[00:03:38.04]
always wanted to be a cowboy, you know.

[00:03:40.01]
And success to me is making
a living off this land

[00:03:44.04]
while making the land better.

[00:03:48.00]
- I wanted to be back.

[00:03:48.09]
I wanted to be around family.

[00:03:49.09]
I wanted to appreciate
this open space that I had

[00:03:53.00]
and not most people get to have.

[00:03:55.08]
And then I came back and
all hell broke loose.

[00:04:00.00]
- [Jed] We just happen to live on top of

[00:04:01.04]
one of the biggest reserves
of oil they've ever found.

[00:04:05.07]
I never expected nothing
like this to happen.

[00:04:12.03]
- Over there is Trenton.

[00:04:14.01]
That whole area where the
railroad tracks meets the highway,

[00:04:16.09]
that's Marley Crossing.

[00:04:19.00]
The church is right there.

[00:04:20.08]
And right behind the church
is that big green field.

[00:04:24.05]
That's where the diesel
refinery is gonna be.

[00:04:27.04]
[propulsive rock music]

[00:04:30.05]
- [Radio Announcer] North Dakota has

[00:04:31.05]
a 3.5% unemployment rate

[00:04:33.06]
and a state budget with a
billion-dollar surplus by the way.

[00:04:36.05]
That's because of a major oil boom

[00:04:38.01]
in the western part of the state,

[00:04:39.08]
a discovery of at least
two billion barrels

[00:04:42.02]
to be gained by fracking.

[00:04:46.08]
The find is expected to make North Dakota

[00:04:49.00]
the third-largest producer of
oil after Alaska and Texas.

[00:04:56.03]
- These hills have been in
our family for a long time.

[00:04:59.04]
And I guess before us they were--

[00:05:01.08]
they belonged to the Native American,

[00:05:03.05]
so who's to say that they're
ours now, I don't know.

[00:05:09.05]
The commissioners said
nobody lives out here.

[00:05:32.00]
- This is some of the
land my grandfather bought

[00:05:36.08]
when he moved up here in the late '20s.

[00:05:40.08]
The land on this side belongs to my dad.

[00:05:44.08]
My cousin farms over here.

[00:05:50.02]
Now, off to the right here,
this was done this summer.

[00:05:53.01]
It's a load-out facility for crude oil.

[00:05:56.08]
100,000 barrels a day of oil

[00:05:59.05]
will be leaving that facility over there.

[00:06:05.08]
[somber instrumental music]

[00:06:16.03]
- While other states
remain firmly in the grip

[00:06:19.07]
of the nation's weakened economy,

[00:06:22.05]
we in North Dakota are in
a position of strength.

[00:06:36.03]
- Pretty much this is the
tradesmen of the world right here.

[00:06:40.00]
All of the tradesmen are being called up.

[00:06:42.04]
Everybody's coming up here for work.

[00:06:44.05]
Minnesota, Oregon, Idaho, Washington,

[00:06:47.04]
California, Arizona, Florida.

[00:06:49.09]
I sleep right here in this
little tent right here.

[00:06:53.00]
- At least these guys came prepared.

[00:06:54.04]
Look, they got a generator
and everything [laughs].

[00:06:58.01]
- [Josh] This is the only
place that we have a shot.

[00:07:25.07]
- The only thing I ever
knew about North Dakota

[00:07:28.01]
was that it's always cold.

[00:07:30.06]
That's that.

[00:07:34.05]
The way I got here, I met
a guy at a truck stop.

[00:07:38.05]
He needed a ride to North Dakota,

[00:07:40.02]
and he says: "I'll pay for the gas

[00:07:42.00]
"and get you a job when you get there."

[00:07:47.00]
And so I said, what do I got to lose?

[00:07:52.02]
The refinery in this region
would help everybody.

[00:07:56.00]
We won't have to ship the oil out,

[00:07:58.07]
we won't have to pipe it out as much.

[00:08:01.06]
It can go straight to the
refinery, be produced there,

[00:08:05.08]
and then distributed in
this area for way less cost

[00:08:10.06]
and the fuel costs would go down.

[00:08:14.00]
If we ever ran outta oil,

[00:08:15.04]
we'd have to go back to
probably steel or wood

[00:08:18.03]
for this dashboard, because
this dashboard is made of oil.

[00:08:24.08]
[light acoustic guitar and banjo music]

[00:08:31.02]
♪ What a friend we have in Jesus ♪

[00:08:38.05]
♪ All our sins and griefs to bear ♪

[00:08:45.06]
♪ What a privilege to carry ♪

[00:08:50.00]
- Welcome to any visitors
that are here this morning.

[00:08:52.08]
I suppose the first thing we should do

[00:08:54.01]
is shut the door so we don't freeze.

[00:08:56.04]
So, if you wanna get that, Josh?

[00:09:00.00]
Why did our ancestors pick this place?

[00:09:02.09]
These crossroads at Marley Crossing

[00:09:05.00]
are a place with a history.

[00:09:06.08]
And I understand the Bearces came up here

[00:09:08.05]
because your grandfather, right, Roger?

[00:09:10.06]
He was a banker, and that
wasn't a good occupation

[00:09:12.06]
during the Depression [laughs].

[00:09:13.08]
And so he moved up here to farm.

[00:09:15.09]
Why did they raise this ceiling
and put these walls up here?

[00:09:21.01]
They built it so we could come here

[00:09:23.02]
and put our hands together in prayer

[00:09:24.09]
and thank God for the
simple beauty of this life.

[00:09:28.09]
But times change.

[00:09:31.02]
- The first time I remember them

[00:09:32.09]
talking about the diesel
refinery, I heard that Dwight

[00:09:37.01]
was starting to kinda
get into people's faces

[00:09:39.03]
that that land was his.

[00:09:41.05]
And that gets your attention.

[00:09:43.03]
Somebody wanting his
church land back, you know?

[00:09:45.09]
- My grandfather donated
the land for the church

[00:09:48.02]
and the hall that's down there.

[00:09:51.04]
I told everybody, as
long as it's in my family

[00:09:54.00]
it'll stay there.

[00:09:55.07]
- 1951, the same year
this church was built,

[00:09:59.00]
was the first time they found
oil in North Dakota, right?

[00:10:02.06]
Literally tens of thousands of people

[00:10:04.03]
have moved into this area
from all over the country

[00:10:07.02]
and other parts of the world.

[00:10:10.07]
I hear there's plans to build
a diesel plant back out here,

[00:10:13.07]
behind-- by the outhouses,
back that direction, right?

[00:10:18.09]
- When the refinery people
came and talked to me--

[00:10:21.03]
"Here's what we'd like to do,
here's what we want to do"--

[00:10:24.04]
yeah, OK, you're sitting down
and you're listening to it.

[00:10:27.01]
"OK, fine guys.

[00:10:28.02]
"I'm not opposed to this,

[00:10:29.03]
"but what do we do about the church?"

[00:10:32.04]
- Is life about getting
as much out of the ground

[00:10:36.02]
as fast as we can, or
is there something more?

[00:10:41.02]
Take somebody's hand next to you.

[00:10:44.07]
Think about these hands.

[00:10:48.01]
When Fred Gardner had his stroke
recently, what did you do?

[00:10:51.07]
You reached out to him.

[00:10:53.08]
When Byron and Terri lost
their farm in the '80s,

[00:10:55.09]
what did you do?

[00:10:57.06]
You reached out to them.

[00:11:00.06]
Isn't this what we're all looking for?

[00:11:08.03]
- I went ahead and made the
deals and sold the land.

[00:11:11.09]
I tried to protect it to make
sure that these companies

[00:11:15.00]
would pony up to move the church and hall.

[00:11:19.00]
The church didn't wanna do it.

[00:11:21.08]
"We don't wanna move it."

[00:11:24.00]
[ponderous rock music]

[00:12:02.01]
- [Susan] What about you,
what are you gonna talk about?

[00:12:03.06]
- I don't know.

[00:12:04.04]
If I get a chance to
talk, I'm gonna talk about

[00:12:06.01]
how my whole family is
living in fear, basically.

[00:12:20.09]
- I believe it's been about 37 years.

[00:12:24.07]
- So, you're gonna break that barrier.

[00:12:27.07]
- Well, I hope so.

[00:12:29.08]
- I certainly hope so, too.

[00:12:31.04]
All you have to do is look
at the price of diesel fuel.

[00:12:33.09]
It's obvious that something has to give.

[00:12:36.01]
We have to have energy
to keep everybody going.

[00:12:42.07]
But the railroad is there and
that's really what the key is.

[00:12:46.08]
OK.

[00:12:47.09]
Any other questions?

[00:12:49.08]
- No chance of any type of
groundwater contamination?

[00:12:59.05]
- That piece of property is
right by the church and hall.

[00:13:02.06]
To quote board member Kalil,

[00:13:04.04]
"The freedom to do what
you want with your property

[00:13:06.04]
"ends when it has impacts
on your neighbors,"

[00:13:08.08]
and there are a number of people

[00:13:10.00]
that live very, very close by there.

[00:13:12.01]
Who wants to live next to a oil refinery?

[00:13:14.05]
Please don't blanket rezone 160 acres

[00:13:17.03]
for a 14-acre diesel topping plant.

[00:13:22.04]
- I didn't walk here today.

[00:13:23.09]
I don't know that anybody
else walked here today

[00:13:26.04]
unless they're in the neighborhood.

[00:13:29.06]
What are we willing to give up

[00:13:32.00]
to have the conveniences of
a affluent modern society?

[00:13:37.01]
If we're gonna have one thing,

[00:13:39.00]
we have to be willing to
sacrifice another thing.

[00:13:41.05]
- I think this is an ideal spot.

[00:13:42.09]
It's a great opportunity for Mel,

[00:13:44.07]
great opportunity for the town of Trenton

[00:13:47.00]
to benefit from this.

[00:13:48.04]
We just really support this project

[00:13:50.00]
and I just think it's a good spot

[00:13:51.08]
and there's a need in this area for it.

[00:13:55.00]
- [Dan] Thanks Steve, OK.

[00:13:56.03]
Gentlemen, what are your thoughts?

[00:13:59.04]
- [Commissioner] I'll
make a motion to approve.

[00:14:01.06]
- Gary.
- Yes.

[00:14:03.05]
- Wayne.
- Yes.

[00:14:05.00]
- Martin.
- Yes.

[00:14:07.02]
- David.
- Yes.

[00:14:08.09]
- Dan.

[00:14:10.00]
- Yes, the motion carries.

[00:14:13.00]
Item number 10.

[00:14:16.06]
[propulsive rock music]

[00:14:22.06]
[train horn blaring]

[00:14:28.07]
- I just think it's so tragic

[00:14:30.06]
that we think that we have
endless space out here,

[00:14:33.09]
because we've believed for so long

[00:14:36.00]
that that's what North Dakota
is, is just endless space,

[00:14:40.01]
because everywhere else they're
fighting for open space.

[00:14:44.03]
And here, we just take it for granted

[00:14:46.08]
and it's like a business opportunity.

[00:14:49.04]
And it's so easy to exploit

[00:14:51.02]
because we don't know how to handle it.

[00:14:53.09]
It's my family that they're gambling,

[00:14:56.01]
and it's my community
that they're gambling.

[00:14:58.05]
I don't wanna be a part of that gamble.

[00:15:06.00]
- The difficulty

[00:15:08.08]
when you are elected to
be a public official,

[00:15:11.01]
you're elected to make the hard decisions.

[00:15:15.01]
How do you provide the
industrial space that's needed,

[00:15:17.08]
yet preserve the way of
life that people had?

[00:15:21.04]
Preserving open space, preserving
the agricultural heritage,

[00:15:24.06]
preserving the wildlife and
the culture that we have

[00:15:27.01]
is very important to the
residents of this community.

[00:15:30.05]
But oil is the lubrication

[00:15:31.08]
for the economic engine of this country.

[00:15:34.08]
The reason that America is America,

[00:15:36.05]
the reason that we're well fed and healthy

[00:15:38.03]
is because we have abundant
resources in this country.

[00:15:42.03]
We're lucky.

[00:15:47.04]
You have the church there,

[00:15:48.03]
you have the community center there,

[00:15:50.02]
but that's where the
railroad tracks are, dang it,

[00:15:52.06]
and that's where, if you're
gonna build a refinery,

[00:15:54.08]
you gotta be on the tracks.

[00:15:57.03]
A church can be moved.

[00:15:58.08]
A community center can be moved.

[00:16:00.08]
The refinery's gotta be on the tracks.

[00:16:05.00]
- I don't know what the
county commissioners

[00:16:06.06]
base their decisions on.

[00:16:08.02]
I don't really know how much
they listen to the land owners.

[00:16:11.09]
You just don't know how much pressure

[00:16:13.02]
these commissioners are
getting from the company.

[00:16:15.08]
When there's so much
money behind something,

[00:16:17.08]
how much can you do to stop it, really?

[00:16:21.05]
And those kind of economics

[00:16:23.02]
isolate ordinary people from the land.

[00:16:27.01]
People who wanna live
just an ordinary life,

[00:16:30.01]
they're the ones who
are getting pushed out.

[00:16:32.01]
And those are the people that we revere

[00:16:34.07]
as the backbone of America.

[00:16:37.03]
That is the Heartland.

[00:16:40.04]
[soft acoustic guitar music]

[00:16:56.02]
- I'm waiting for the leaves

[00:16:57.03]
to come on the lilacs in the trees.

[00:16:58.08]
They just are so late this year.

[00:17:02.04]
Yeah, we have to put up a new
mailbox at least once a year.

[00:17:07.07]
And this one had just been up a month

[00:17:10.04]
when the truck wiped it out.

[00:17:15.06]
I know you can't stop progress.

[00:17:17.03]
I guess that's what they
call it, is progress.

[00:17:19.01]
But...

[00:17:25.02]
This oil refinery, it's gonna
be three-fourths of a mile

[00:17:28.05]
from where we live.

[00:17:31.01]
Our sister-in-law and
brother-in-law down there

[00:17:33.00]
where they put that gas plant
in, they both got cancer.

[00:17:37.03]
Our great nephew got cancer.

[00:17:39.05]
Nobody came to the meetings to protest

[00:17:41.07]
except me [laughs].

[00:17:43.09]
They just kinda poo-pooed like,

[00:17:45.06]
"Oh, what are you worried about?"

[00:17:47.01]
I said, "Oh, we're expendable."

[00:17:48.08]
And he says, "Oh, no you're not."

[00:17:50.02]
Well, I said, "That's the
way you're treating us,

[00:17:52.05]
"like it doesn't matter
that we live here."

[00:17:55.09]
We don't wanna sell out and move.

[00:17:57.07]
This is our home.

[00:17:59.02]
Where else are we gonna go?

[00:18:04.04]
- Merna was going to those meetings

[00:18:05.09]
and she was bringing statistics

[00:18:07.01]
about air quality around ethanol plants,

[00:18:08.08]
you know, all that hippy-dippy stuff.

[00:18:11.03]
And they just all kinda laughed at her,

[00:18:13.09]
and it broke her spirit.

[00:18:15.05]
She just-- she couldn't do it anymore.

[00:18:20.02]
[cascading piano runs]

[00:18:32.07]
- [Merna] I mean, I
don't want it to happen,

[00:18:34.02]
but we're not gonna go to the meetings.

[00:18:38.00]
My voice wouldn't even be heard.

[00:18:53.02]
- [Kalie] You prove yourself
through what you do here--

[00:18:56.03]
through how you act, not what you say.

[00:18:59.07]
I remember Mom, she once said,

[00:19:03.00]
"Farmers don't think deep, they just do."

[00:19:07.00]
- The house was sitting
over here to the left.

[00:19:10.01]
Had a big lawn in front of it.

[00:19:12.07]
[gentle electric guitar music]

[00:19:16.02]
It was one of the old project houses.

[00:19:18.02]
Just one bedroom, you
know, wasn't much to it.

[00:19:24.03]
And as the family grew, we
put on a couple extra rooms

[00:19:27.08]
and it was a nice farmstead.

[00:19:32.00]
Being a farmer, it's...

[00:19:35.03]
It's a good life.

[00:19:39.04]
But we were paying 12%
interest, and that's a lot.

[00:19:45.03]
The '80s weren't good

[00:19:46.03]
for most everybody in the
farming industry, so...

[00:19:51.01]
- It's true that agriculture itself

[00:19:52.05]
is going through a transformation

[00:19:53.08]
and the family farm is getting larger.

[00:19:56.03]
And the small farm is
under increasing difficulty

[00:19:59.04]
because you simply have to
have volume to make some money.

[00:20:02.08]
[police whistles and shouting]

[00:20:05.01]
[audience applauding]

[00:20:07.08]
- So then you start having
larger operators loans

[00:20:11.06]
because you think you can take on more.

[00:20:13.07]
The margin of error is much smaller,

[00:20:16.01]
and if you have any bad
weather, you lose your farm.

[00:20:22.04]
- That's what happened.

[00:20:23.02]
We had two hail storms,
two outta three years,

[00:20:26.02]
and that's what pretty much did the trick.

[00:20:35.00]
- [Kalie] My grandparents were forced

[00:20:36.05]
to leave their home, too.

[00:20:42.00]
And it's abandoned now,
but we still go down there

[00:20:44.00]
every once in a while and just reminisce

[00:20:45.09]
about what life used to be like there.

[00:20:59.06]
- You kinda just go through a
fog, just moving through a fog

[00:21:03.06]
to try to keep a family
of four kids together

[00:21:07.03]
without it impacting their lives.

[00:21:11.03]
It's nothing that you're
very proud of, y'know.

[00:21:14.07]
Nothing you wanna talk about

[00:21:16.01]
and nobody else wanted
to talk about either.

[00:21:19.01]
So, we just didn't talk about it.

[00:21:22.01]
- So, the kitchen table
used to be right here.

[00:21:25.07]
This is where did most of
our cooking with Grandma

[00:21:28.05]
because we were all tiny, so
it was short enough for us.

[00:21:35.00]
The farm crisis in the '80s

[00:21:36.06]
that made my mom and dad lose their farm

[00:21:39.08]
is kind of what started communities
at odds with each other.

[00:21:43.08]
That need for farmers
to compete to survive,

[00:21:47.05]
it destroys friendships,
destroys families.

[00:21:52.00]
Now, it's much harder for
people to act as a community

[00:21:55.06]
and come together to try
and even fight something

[00:21:58.02]
because the community's been
broken since the farm crisis.

[00:22:02.03]
- I pulled away from the community.

[00:22:05.00]
I don't think I've been
really attached since.

[00:22:09.09]
- She wanted to fight a
little more, a little harder.

[00:22:13.04]
And I told her, I said--

[00:22:16.06]
told her we were too deep.

[00:22:23.06]
- [Kalie] As much as these farmers

[00:22:24.06]
act like they're tough guys,

[00:22:27.08]
they're connected to that land,

[00:22:30.00]
and it breaks 'em when
they're removed from it.

[00:22:39.00]
You have something like oil coming in

[00:22:41.02]
to a community that's already
broken from the farm crisis,

[00:22:45.03]
it creates less compassion.

[00:22:48.04]
How much are you making?

[00:22:49.03]
How much am I making?

[00:22:50.01]
It's like that competition
thing all over again.

[00:23:14.01]
- We got water and other contaminants

[00:23:16.08]
settled to the bottom of the oil tank.

[00:23:18.07]
And after it goes through
this series of filters,

[00:23:21.05]
we can call in a truck and
have it shipped outta here

[00:23:24.06]
and get it sold.

[00:23:27.09]
This is what came outta there yesterday.

[00:23:30.08]
The lower level is water, dirty water,

[00:23:34.02]
with a little bit of oil on top.

[00:23:42.03]
Now this is where the
job gets dirty, messy,

[00:23:46.04]
greasy, grimy.

[00:23:53.08]
But we're in oil country,

[00:23:55.03]
so if you don't like oil on
your hands or your clothes

[00:23:58.00]
or the smell of oil, stay home.

[00:24:02.03]
'Cause I don't care what
job you get up here,

[00:24:05.05]
one way or another its gonna
be associated with oil.

[00:24:20.00]
A lotta people that I talk to, they say,

[00:24:21.09]
"Oh man, its great up here.

[00:24:23.06]
"Living the dream, it's money."

[00:24:33.02]
Get the gang together and
we'll play some touch.

[00:24:35.04]
[all laughing]

[00:24:37.03]
Looking pretty good to me.

[00:24:39.00]
- [Man] You clean them out,
being the professional you are--

[00:24:41.01]
- Hey man, I ain't no professional.

[00:24:43.04]
The only thing I'm professional
at is being overpaid.

[00:24:53.01]
Not everybody has an
opportunity to be successful.

[00:24:56.00]
I've got the chance now
to become successful,

[00:24:58.07]
whereaa a year and a half ago

[00:25:01.01]
I was a lost sheep out there in the world.

[00:25:06.04]
♪ On top of lasagna ♪

[00:25:09.02]
♪ All covered with cheese ♪

[00:25:19.00]
You're in the Bakken, baby.

[00:25:20.04]
- In the Bakken.
- You're in the Bakken.

[00:25:21.09]
- [Man] Damn right.

[00:25:23.00]
- You got a job and--

[00:25:25.07]
- Making money.
- You got it, baby!

[00:25:27.07]
- Yep [laughs].

[00:25:35.03]
- We're taken care of, and
it's all because of the oil.

[00:25:42.06]
And hopefully the politics
won't get in the way.

[00:25:48.00]
♪ Some things ♪

[00:25:52.08]
♪ Can't be undone ♪

[00:25:54.07]
- [Man] It's my great honor
today to introduce the governor

[00:25:57.01]
of the great state of North
Dakota, Governor Jack Dalrymple.

[00:25:59.06]
[audience applauding]

[00:26:03.09]
- Thanks for being here
today, that's pretty cool.

[00:26:06.06]
From barrel number one to
barrel number one million,

[00:26:10.08]
that's pretty incredible.

[00:26:14.07]
[cows mooing]

[00:26:17.04]
This prosperity that has
come to North Dakota,

[00:26:21.03]
the end result is the opportunity

[00:26:24.02]
for a great quality of life.

[00:26:26.07]
Congratulations to you.

[00:26:30.06]
We have the fastest-growing
incomes in the nation,

[00:26:34.01]
we have the fastest-growing
population in the nation,

[00:26:39.01]
and we will keep a
reasonable regulatory climate

[00:26:43.05]
and we will encourage people
to bring jobs to North Dakota.

[00:26:48.01]
It's working.

[00:26:49.01]
[audience applauding]

[00:26:53.04]
But for now, let's have a little fun

[00:26:56.08]
celebrating one million barrels.

[00:26:59.09]
Kathy, thanks for inviting us.

[00:27:01.06]
It's a great day, good to
be with you, thank you.

[00:27:03.06]
[audience applauding]

[00:27:07.05]
♪ Sheets of rain playing
songs on an old tin roof ♪

[00:27:13.06]
♪ Lay me down with the cold hard truth ♪

[00:27:19.06]
♪ Some things ♪

[00:27:24.05]
♪ Can't be undone ♪

[00:27:31.08]
♪ Some things ♪

[00:27:36.06]
♪ Can't be undone ♪

[00:27:50.03]
- This is a public notice
on some more zoning changes

[00:27:55.02]
in that area of the processing plant.

[00:27:58.03]
The thing is they're gonna move
it, or they want to move it.

[00:28:02.09]
This in black is where the
refinery was going to be,

[00:28:07.01]
and they're gonna move this down

[00:28:08.06]
and put it in this blue box.

[00:28:11.03]
It's a farmstead now,
owned by Steve Olster.

[00:28:15.06]
I don't like the idea 'cause
its right across the road

[00:28:18.02]
from Bud and Merna Patch.

[00:28:22.02]
The Williams County Planning
and Zoning want the...

[00:28:26.08]
the permission from the township

[00:28:30.03]
for these types of zoning changes also,

[00:28:32.04]
but it doesn't mean that
they'll listen to the township.

[00:28:40.05]
Hopefully.

[00:28:42.02]
[waves lapping]

[00:28:49.00]
[leaves rustling]

[00:28:55.00]
[sparklers sizzling]

[00:29:03.06]
- [Girl] Mama, here's yours!

[00:29:08.08]
[fireworks crackling]

[00:29:24.07]
- [Kalie] I had reoccurring dreams

[00:29:26.01]
about being home during a crisis.

[00:29:34.04]
My sister-in-law Melissa

[00:29:35.09]
was walking through this forest on a path,

[00:29:39.00]
leaving with her three children.

[00:29:43.09]
It just felt like an exodus of some kind,

[00:29:46.01]
like we just had to go.

[00:29:52.05]
I'm sick of having these dreams.

[00:29:58.06]
I'm not intimidated by the people

[00:29:59.09]
sitting on the other
side of the room anymore.

[00:30:05.04]
[ponderous rock music]

[00:30:25.01]
- [Merna] Oh these flowers are pretty.

[00:30:29.00]
[crowd chatting]

[00:30:38.03]
- Why exactly are we here again
doing this two years later?

[00:30:41.05]
What happened?

[00:30:43.05]
- We did have 100 acres of
land we bought from Mr. Aune.

[00:30:48.08]
Now, that's gonna be a little short,

[00:30:50.09]
so we looked at another little
section that's big enough

[00:30:53.06]
to handle some of the things
that we're looking at.

[00:30:57.08]
Now, with that said, what I'm hoping

[00:31:00.09]
is that we can get some designation

[00:31:03.03]
from the county as an industrial park.

[00:31:06.09]
[crowd chatting]

[00:31:11.02]
- You wanna explain that?

[00:31:12.03]
- The zoning request
is for an oil refinery.

[00:31:14.02]
There's nothing in here
about an industrial park.

[00:31:16.07]
- No, I'm not saying that.

[00:31:18.00]
I'm just explaining the overall picture.

[00:31:19.08]
- My understanding was that

[00:31:20.08]
once you zone a piece of land industrial,

[00:31:22.08]
it is blanket industrial.

[00:31:25.02]
And special use permit or not,

[00:31:27.03]
you can put whatever you want on that land

[00:31:29.07]
and you don't need another permit.

[00:31:31.02]
You can store chemical,

[00:31:32.03]
you can do whatever you want on that land.

[00:31:34.08]
- Yeah, I'm gonna say
you are partially right,

[00:31:36.06]
but that's not always what happens.

[00:31:38.05]
And so, it's part of the
Board of Commissioners,

[00:31:40.09]
my job, to track those things.

[00:31:43.08]
[crowd chatting]

[00:31:46.07]
- We have lived right across the road

[00:31:48.04]
from this proposed refinery for 48 years,

[00:31:51.09]
and we are opposed to this zone change.

[00:31:53.09]
It would be right in our front yard.

[00:31:55.08]
We're concerned about
the noise and the dust

[00:31:58.06]
and the traffic, as has been mentioned.

[00:32:01.03]
The quality of life is not
gonna be very good for us,

[00:32:04.07]
so we are definitely opposed.

[00:32:07.06]
- Let me explain that oil's
not gonna be here that long.

[00:32:11.05]
It's eventually gonna go away.

[00:32:13.03]
And if we don't do it, within a few years

[00:32:15.01]
we'll be back to the horse and buggy days.

[00:32:17.05]
- The opportunity that we have down here

[00:32:20.02]
to make this area grow
here at Trenton is huge.

[00:32:24.02]
And, granted, it's gonna impact people.

[00:32:26.01]
There's no doubt about it.

[00:32:27.06]
But everybody's impacted by
what's going on around here.

[00:32:30.07]
- I don't think we're saying
we're trying to stop progress,

[00:32:33.04]
we're saying putting it
where it's least destructive.

[00:32:36.05]
- And you know what?

[00:32:37.04]
You know, there's 60 acres of
ground right by Savage there,

[00:32:40.08]
that'd be a good place for it.

[00:32:42.05]
But there's people that want
a lotta money for that land.

[00:32:45.01]
So don't complain about
being impacted in one spot

[00:32:48.05]
when there's a spot for it to go.

[00:32:51.03]
- What do you mean by that, Steve?

[00:32:52.09]
- Well, you guys got land there!

[00:32:55.03]
Has Mel come and offered
to buy it from you?

[00:32:56.07]
- Yeah, he has.

[00:32:58.04]
So if I want more money
than he's willing to pay,

[00:33:01.01]
I'm the bad guy?

[00:33:02.04]
[crowd laughing]
- Well, you're complaining

[00:33:03.03]
about it being on the other side.

[00:33:04.09]
You want it away?

[00:33:06.02]
Sell him the ground.

[00:33:07.05]
- [Roger] You got the
wrong attitude there.

[00:33:09.02]
- No, no. No, no.

[00:33:10.02]
- Look at this mess you're
making in Trenton, Steve.

[00:33:12.02]
You call that a quality-of-life
issue for the rest of us?

[00:33:14.06]
- Hey, we're putting
pipelines in the ground.

[00:33:16.06]
We're improving what we're doing.

[00:33:18.01]
You're not even looking far
enough ahead to see that.

[00:33:21.01]
Progress is gonna come.

[00:33:22.06]
Look to the future, guys!

[00:33:26.02]
- If the future is an
industrial park in our backyard,

[00:33:28.04]
then I don't like the future.

[00:33:29.07]
I'm sorry.

[00:33:30.07]
- [Steve] I've got oil wells on my ground.

[00:33:32.00]
I never wanted oil wells there.

[00:33:33.02]
- I know, but right now we have a choice.

[00:33:35.03]
Right now we have a choice.

[00:33:36.09]
We can do something
preemptively right now.

[00:33:39.02]
It's not like this has happened already.

[00:33:40.08]
We still love it, we still love it here.

[00:33:42.08]
Buford and Trenton has an
opportunity to still be beautiful.

[00:33:50.09]
[ethereal ambient music]

[00:34:13.07]
- This coulda happened 500
miles either side of here,

[00:34:16.01]
but it didn't.

[00:34:16.09]
It happened here.

[00:34:18.08]
Granted, it's affected some people.

[00:34:21.01]
It's close to their property.

[00:34:24.08]
I know some people are
really tied to the land,

[00:34:28.09]
they don't like to see
this happening to the land.

[00:34:31.06]
But that's just, you
know, business in America.

[00:34:36.06]
You have to look, to
me, at the big benefit,

[00:34:39.06]
is what I think.

[00:34:43.05]
- [Woman] Print this off for them.

[00:34:44.07]
- [Man] But, the same thing?

[00:34:46.04]
Probably.
- Well, I agree.

[00:34:47.08]
I think that's his argument, is like--

[00:34:50.02]
- This is Dan Kalil,

[00:34:51.02]
"This seems to be the
least intrusive spot,"

[00:34:53.03]
that would be the old one.

[00:34:54.07]
"But Falcon said no matter
where the refinery is built

[00:34:57.00]
"someone will object."

[00:34:58.03]
- What kind a argument do you
have against the community?

[00:35:00.08]
If you're going to hold a
thing with the community,

[00:35:02.03]
you hope nobody shows up

[00:35:03.06]
because you know nobody's
gonna want it there.

[00:35:05.02]
- I know, exactly.

[00:35:06.03]
- All my points are emotional.

[00:35:07.05]
I don't even wanna talk.

[00:35:09.02]
- Mel Falcon said that it will
not make a huge difference

[00:35:11.07]
to the property owners in the area.

[00:35:14.02]
And that's Danny, Roger--

[00:35:15.08]
- Oh my gosh, when he said that,

[00:35:17.04]
the whole room disagreed with him.

[00:35:18.07]
Just kinda blew up, you know?

[00:35:21.02]
I don't know how people's thinking

[00:35:23.03]
can be so doggone far apart I guess.

[00:35:26.03]
It's like, "You can't
stop progress, people!"

[00:35:28.00]
- That's what Steve Mortensen

[00:35:30.02]
was trying to get across to us,

[00:35:32.08]
that you should destroy everything.

[00:35:35.01]
And like Kalie said,
we have the opportunity

[00:35:36.09]
to draw the line in the sand, you know?

[00:35:45.04]
[birds chirping]

[00:35:56.03]
[pensive acoustic guitar music]

[00:35:59.08]
- We were one of the first ones
to let people buy our land.

[00:36:03.01]
Our land borders the
railroad track up there,

[00:36:05.09]
and a group of neighbors and investors

[00:36:09.05]
wanted to build a ethanol plan there.

[00:36:12.05]
- We were kinda reluctant to do that,

[00:36:14.06]
but there was really a push

[00:36:16.04]
that this was a viable option
for farmers in this area.

[00:36:21.00]
We could grow corn.

[00:36:22.07]
- We just thought that maybe
that would be a good idea

[00:36:25.08]
if we could have a plant here

[00:36:27.05]
that preserves the farming community

[00:36:30.01]
and gives us another
rotational crop in our area.

[00:36:35.01]
- And so, with some pressure,

[00:36:36.09]
we agreed to sell the
land for an ethanol plant.

[00:36:42.05]
- After a few years,

[00:36:43.08]
I was surprised that it hadn't been built,

[00:36:45.09]
and then we didn't think
it would ever be built.

[00:36:48.01]
And then, all of a
sudden, they struck oil.

[00:36:53.05]
- You know, we truly wanted
to keep it farm-based.

[00:36:55.06]
We didn't want it to be oil.

[00:36:58.06]
So, we were kind of
fighting with our neighbors

[00:37:00.05]
and having lawyers and sleepless nights

[00:37:03.05]
and worried about getting sued.

[00:37:05.09]
If we didn't fulfill our
part of the contract,

[00:37:08.05]
we were gonna get sued for $100 million.

[00:37:11.06]
Yeah, we woulda lost everything.

[00:37:15.00]
- So it changed from an ethanol plant

[00:37:17.06]
to a load-out facility for oil,

[00:37:19.05]
and it's just kinda
sprawled from that point.

[00:37:26.07]
If we could go back, we wouldn't.

[00:37:28.01]
And if I knew it was
gonna turn out that way,

[00:37:31.04]
we certainly wouldn't have sold that land

[00:37:35.04]
for that kinda purpose.

[00:37:41.01]
[gas flare hissing]

[00:37:45.06]
- Roger really struggles with the fact

[00:37:48.07]
that he sold that land.

[00:37:50.02]
He really struggles with
that on a daily basis.

[00:37:54.00]
And I know that 'cause
I know he has said that

[00:37:56.03]
to other people who are
trying to sell stuff.

[00:37:59.03]
And he was like, "You'll regret it."

[00:38:03.09]
- It means something to me

[00:38:05.01]
that I got to be able
to buy this from my dad.

[00:38:09.00]
And some people say, "Never
get attached to your land,"

[00:38:11.08]
and I just can't do that.

[00:38:16.03]
But some people can,

[00:38:18.04]
and they run it as a business
and they're probably...

[00:38:25.07]
They're probably doing
the right thing for them,

[00:38:30.06]
but maybe not the right thing
for the people around them.

[00:38:35.08]
[pensive acoustic guitar music]

[00:38:40.08]
- The refinery.

[00:38:44.03]
There's two sides to
every story, of course.

[00:38:47.09]
OK, I grew up out here.

[00:38:51.02]
I couldn't imagine doing
anything else but farming

[00:38:54.05]
until I got flooded and took quite a hit.

[00:39:00.07]
I've got six kids.

[00:39:03.02]
For those two years,

[00:39:04.01]
if one of my kids wanted to go to school,

[00:39:06.08]
there's no guarantee I
could scrape up the money

[00:39:08.05]
to give 'em a vehicle to go.

[00:39:12.06]
I had to walk away.

[00:39:14.00]
I mean, I had to walk away from farming.

[00:39:15.03]
I couldn't come back and help anybody,

[00:39:16.08]
I couldn't do anything.

[00:39:18.06]
I liked it that much.

[00:39:20.01]
Just, you know, it's a way
of life, it's in your system.

[00:39:27.06]
The deal was is that
you're buying land here

[00:39:30.06]
and you're buying land here,
and I'm sitting in the middle.

[00:39:35.05]
The last chunk of land that
was sold out there was $50,000.

[00:39:39.09]
I got 40 acres right next to it.

[00:39:43.01]
If that's true and that's
what it's going for,

[00:39:46.01]
that little chunk of ground
to pass on to my kids,

[00:39:48.05]
whether it sells or not,
is worth $2 million to 'em.

[00:39:52.05]
What would you do?

[00:40:12.00]
[boy laughing]

[00:40:31.02]
[train chugging]

[00:40:46.08]
- I've been known to
drop a lotta money here,

[00:40:49.04]
but then once in a while I make some.

[00:40:53.05]
- One thing I do know
that I've been in gambling

[00:40:56.02]
since '87 in Nevada,

[00:40:58.05]
you get a lot of very
bad players over here.

[00:41:02.05]
Ooh, 21.
- Uh-oh, that happens.

[00:41:04.08]
When I put my chips down,
I either win or lose.

[00:41:06.09]
That's 50/50.

[00:41:11.04]
- I would say around like maybe 51/49.

[00:41:16.04]
- For me-- 51 for me.

[00:41:18.09]
- No, 49 for you, 51 for the house.

[00:41:24.03]
On every single hand, something like that.

[00:41:26.05]
The odds have to be slightly against you.

[00:41:29.02]
- Well, I should quit while I'm ahead.

[00:41:31.03]
- [Dealer] That why you're coming in here?

[00:41:32.03]
- No, I work for a new company.

[00:41:34.06]
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, they bought the well.

[00:41:36.06]
They're gonna move me into
a field manager position.

[00:41:40.03]
Where I was working before,
I thought I'd made the top.

[00:41:42.09]
But now, I've got--

[00:41:45.05]
I've got more to go.

[00:41:48.06]
I can go higher now.

[00:41:51.08]
- Hi, Ruben!
- How are ya?!

[00:41:53.04]
- I am good, how are you?
- Nice to see ya.

[00:41:54.08]
More food is showing up.

[00:41:57.06]
Gotta bring the ham in.

[00:42:03.00]
Excuse me.

[00:42:10.03]
- I never seen you cook
anything that wasn't wonderful.

[00:42:13.04]
Woo!

[00:42:14.04]
Tremendous.

[00:42:15.04]
- [Jack] We'll keep you
around another year.

[00:42:16.07]
- [Ruben] Next!
[all laughing]

[00:42:19.03]
- Thank you, Ruben.
- You're welcome.

[00:42:20.08]
- [Man] Better get something to eat.

[00:42:22.05]
- I'm staring down all
that chocolate [laughs].

[00:42:25.04]
See, in treatment, when you stop drinking,

[00:42:27.05]
chocolate bars and water

[00:42:28.07]
is one of the best remedies for that.

[00:42:31.02]
This is the coin I got Thursday night.

[00:42:38.05]
And this is the coin I got
for completing my treatment.

[00:42:43.05]
Knowing that that's there,
that's like protection.

[00:42:46.00]
- [Woman] Yep, it's a reminder.

[00:42:48.03]
- [Ruben] Yeah.

[00:42:49.08]
- This is from me and my wife,

[00:42:51.05]
'cause you're the chef that
we need around here, Ruben.

[00:42:54.04]
You've done us really a good job.

[00:42:56.05]
And my wife and I are giving you this

[00:42:58.02]
for the cheffing that you do.

[00:43:00.06]
- Oh, wow.

[00:43:02.01]
Wow.

[00:43:03.03]
Man.

[00:43:04.01]
- You're the only one who's
got a Craftsman spatula!

[00:43:05.09]
- Craftsmen set of...

[00:43:08.02]
Wow.

[00:43:09.01]
- Barbecue set.
- You know...

[00:43:10.01]
[man laughing]

[00:43:11.01]
Thank you, guys.
- Attaboy, Ruben!

[00:43:12.08]
- That is really sweet of you guys.

[00:43:15.01]
Hey, Jack.

[00:43:17.01]
The Toolman in the kitchen [laughs].

[00:43:20.06]
- [Man] Tool Time Ruben.

[00:43:21.07]
- That's something else I can
just put in my stack of stuff

[00:43:24.07]
and leave it until someday
when I move to a bigger place

[00:43:27.04]
and, hey, have everything
I need but furniture.

[00:43:32.06]
I love this job.

[00:43:38.04]
Finally can spoil myself.

[00:43:42.04]
[soft acoustic guitar music]

[00:43:46.06]
- Jed's turn!

[00:43:53.09]
- [Child] I'm getting scissors!

[00:43:56.00]
- Don't get me, go get Blabby!

[00:43:57.08]
Go get her!
- No!

[00:44:01.07]
- Have you seen these, Jed?

[00:44:04.05]
We did tons of pictures
of Ellie in the hills.

[00:44:07.02]
Just beautiful, you know?

[00:44:08.07]
Just pretty, pretty, pretty pictures.

[00:44:10.04]
- [Jed] Look at Jasper on alert.

[00:44:12.01]
He must see something.

[00:44:13.04]
[all laughing]

[00:44:16.07]
- With his bad eyes.

[00:44:18.07]
The other pictures that I found

[00:44:20.01]
on Mom's external hard drive--

[00:44:21.08]
- [Jed] I haven't seen any of these.

[00:44:23.00]
- These pictures show almost
no development, you know?

[00:44:27.09]
With the church.

[00:44:29.03]
Like, this is crazy.

[00:44:31.08]
The church is still white, too.

[00:44:33.03]
- [Kalie] Oh, what a perfect
place to put a refinery.

[00:44:35.06]
[Jonie laughing]

[00:44:39.05]
- You can fight this all you want,

[00:44:40.08]
and we have every right to fight this.

[00:44:44.00]
That's what public hearings are for, is...

[00:44:48.04]
[laughs] But if you lose,
and most of the time you do,

[00:44:53.09]
you either gotta learn
to live with it or leave.

[00:44:57.05]
Why is it such a big deal to leave?

[00:44:59.09]
Why can't we just say, "To
hell with it," and leave?

[00:45:04.09]
- We know why we're here.

[00:45:06.01]
We're here 'cause our whole
family's here, you know?

[00:45:12.00]
- Yep.

[00:45:15.00]
[spare piano music]

[00:45:29.04]
[faint thunder rumbling]

[00:45:33.02]
[oil derrick pump whining]

[00:46:18.03]
- Morning, Isaac.

[00:46:24.07]
They want this oil field
this big right away,

[00:46:28.01]
but yet then they tell me
its gonna take 10 years

[00:46:30.05]
for us to establish any kind
of infrastructure on highways.

[00:46:33.07]
Morning, boys.

[00:46:36.00]
Who's the best bus driver,
me or Auntie Melissa?

[00:46:39.03]
That's right.

[00:46:42.04]
I'm gonna have to send my
kids on this highway someday.

[00:46:54.09]
There, get lost.

[00:46:58.02]
[child laughing]

[00:47:02.04]
I've been run off the road
four times in that school bus

[00:47:05.07]
with kids in it.

[00:47:06.09]
Four times.

[00:47:09.00]
I'd like to ask anybody in the country

[00:47:10.09]
who has ever even heard of that.

[00:47:23.01]
This is the place my
wife has always wanted.

[00:47:25.07]
When we bought it, we were both convinced

[00:47:27.05]
that this is the last
place we were gonna own.

[00:47:31.00]
I mean, we were looking at
each other like, "Really?

[00:47:33.02]
"We're even gonna discuss
selling this place?"

[00:47:36.08]
This oil patch is just a blip in history.

[00:47:41.03]
It's going bust eventually.

[00:47:47.09]
There's only so much
down there we can take.

[00:47:51.00]
And that is why that bothers me so much,

[00:47:53.00]
is this little blip is
destroying this area.

[00:47:59.06]
♪ Never been entirely trusting ♪

[00:48:02.09]
♪ But I will be counting my blessings ♪

[00:48:06.04]
♪ And I'll take what I get, yeah ♪

[00:48:10.03]
♪ I'll take what I get, yeah ♪

[00:48:13.08]
♪ Never been entirely trusting ♪

[00:48:17.02]
♪ But I will be counting my blessings ♪

[00:48:20.08]
♪ And I'll take what I get, yeah ♪

[00:48:24.06]
♪ I'll take what I get, yeah ♪

[00:48:27.05]
Why can't I frickin' just
write a happy song? [laughs]

[00:48:33.07]
People have been moving on
since the beginning of time.

[00:48:37.07]
If all this stuff does
start coming down the pipe,

[00:48:39.09]
then maybe it is a good
decision to get outta here.

[00:48:44.05]
♪ Dare I say ♪

[00:48:48.04]
♪ Everything, everything's gonna be OK ♪

[00:48:55.04]
♪ All will be well someday ♪

[00:49:07.04]
- [Jed] This is our laundry room here.

[00:49:10.03]
This is the kitchen here,

[00:49:11.04]
and then our kinda dining room
is gonna be here, I guess.

[00:49:16.04]
But this is pretty much all
where I run cattle from here.

[00:49:26.00]
- [Kalie] Yeah, I don't know
if I'll be able to stay here.

[00:49:29.08]
I don't know if I can handle it.

[00:49:33.02]
- This place needs you, Kalie.

[00:49:34.05]
- No it doesn't.

[00:49:35.08]
I don't know if I can handle it.

[00:49:46.08]
[ethereal ambient music]

[00:50:10.08]
You wanna go?

[00:50:12.01]
OK, let's go.

[00:50:13.03]
Riker's ready.

[00:50:14.07]
- I'm ready, Freddie.

[00:50:16.05]
- Are the mosquitoes out now, you guys?

[00:50:18.04]
- [Riker] Yep.

[00:50:19.02]
- Ah.

[00:50:20.07]
Oh my gosh, they're all over!

[00:50:23.02]
[children laughing]

[00:50:25.01]
This is insane.

[00:50:29.08]
So, do you know what that is right there

[00:50:31.05]
that you're pulling?

[00:50:33.01]
You can see where the beets are, right?

[00:50:35.00]
The beets have that purpley part on them.

[00:50:37.09]
Yeah, you can eat that.

[00:50:39.05]
[laughing]

[00:50:43.05]
Jules got a big root.

[00:50:45.03]
So, you can eat this in salads

[00:50:47.00]
or you can make tea
out of dandelion greens

[00:50:49.00]
and it's really, really good for you.

[00:50:50.07]
But other people will
roast the root in a pan

[00:50:55.01]
and make tea out of
roasted dandelion root.

[00:50:58.05]
- I'm keeping it.

[00:51:01.01]
[poignant piano music]

[00:52:14.01]
- Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
for the opportunity

[00:52:15.08]
to speak on behalf of
Dakota Oil Processing.

[00:52:18.02]
The original property we purchased,

[00:52:20.08]
it is constrained at 100 acres.

[00:52:23.02]
We'd be doing a lot of engineering

[00:52:24.05]
and a lotta rearranging of pipelines

[00:52:27.01]
in order to make the project work.

[00:52:28.07]
It's not the case on the preferred site.

[00:52:32.02]
- The preferred site.
- Yes.

[00:52:34.01]
- Well, if this is the preferred site,

[00:52:35.06]
why didn't you ask for this site first?

[00:52:37.08]
- I seem to recall from
the original presentation

[00:52:40.02]
when Mel came in that
we were talking about

[00:52:41.08]
a very small refinery
that only needed 15 acres.

[00:52:48.00]
- You know, when we first started this,

[00:52:50.00]
we approached Mr. Aune about
getting the land in that area.

[00:52:55.02]
He came to me and said,

[00:52:56.09]
"Why not put all this into industrial use?

[00:53:00.02]
"That way, it makes my
land more valuable."

[00:53:03.03]
- Everybody knows that,

[00:53:04.03]
that I've said I don't mind
changing it to industrial.

[00:53:08.01]
And sure, it makes my
property more valuable,

[00:53:10.03]
and it makes Danny's
property more valuable,

[00:53:12.07]
it makes Roger's more valuable.

[00:53:14.08]
That's just part of the deal.

[00:53:17.01]
You want to be industrial,
why leave me out?

[00:53:21.02]
[crowd chatting]

[00:53:23.00]
- These guys, they can't
be trusted, I don't think.

[00:53:25.08]
I hate to say that.

[00:53:27.08]
Bud and Merna Patch live right there.

[00:53:30.02]
They're gonna be within short
distance of that refinery.

[00:53:33.08]
They don't give a damn
about Bud and Merna Patch.

[00:53:38.03]
They just wanna build it there

[00:53:40.01]
when they've got a site already available.

[00:53:43.00]
There's a endgame to this whole thing,

[00:53:45.01]
and it's all about money.

[00:53:47.01]
And I think you guys need to realize that

[00:53:49.05]
and turn this down.

[00:53:54.02]
- I'm Steve Olster, and
this is my backyard.

[00:53:58.06]
Right here.

[00:53:59.07]
I'm in the backyard.

[00:54:01.01]
We already have more projected
industrial coming up.

[00:54:04.07]
Whose backyard is it going to be in?

[00:54:08.07]
Maybe I wanna just sell
my backyard and leave.

[00:54:12.01]
That's my position.

[00:54:19.03]
- Well, the land where you
see them putting the railport

[00:54:24.00]
and the refinery is where my
great grandparents homesteaded.

[00:54:27.01]
So, this is basically sacred area to us.

[00:54:30.00]
I don't know how much
of an argument that is

[00:54:32.02]
in and of itself.

[00:54:33.01]
But over the past two years,
I've watched how a railport

[00:54:36.06]
legitimized industrial zoning in general,

[00:54:40.00]
and how that turned into
this diesel refinery

[00:54:43.09]
and talking straight-up about

[00:54:45.07]
how this is gonna be an industrial park.

[00:54:48.06]
It's just been disheartening to see

[00:54:50.02]
how someone's willing to
sell at the beginning,

[00:54:52.06]
there's no planning around
it, and then it just sprawls.

[00:54:55.04]
And you can't blame Steve
Olster for selling now

[00:54:59.04]
'cause he's surrounded by it.

[00:55:00.05]
Who wouldn't wanna sell?

[00:55:01.09]
My brother is a rancher
and he wants to sell

[00:55:04.05]
because there's earth disposals

[00:55:07.00]
and development heading his way.

[00:55:09.00]
And that's not the life
that he signed up for

[00:55:11.07]
when he decided to come home
and start a life here, so...

[00:55:22.08]
- We're at an unprecedented
time of winners and losers.

[00:55:26.09]
It wasn't our intent to start

[00:55:28.04]
the sprawl of a huge
industrial park down there.

[00:55:31.07]
I believe our intent was
to get a small refinery

[00:55:35.05]
somewhere in western North Dakota.

[00:55:38.08]
The detriment to the homeowners down there

[00:55:40.06]
is a huge concern to me.

[00:55:44.02]
People who've lived there all
their lives being forced out

[00:55:47.06]
is just not something that I can buy into.

[00:55:54.08]
To deny the application for a zone change

[00:55:57.05]
for a relocation of the refinery.

[00:56:00.03]
- [Commissioner] I'll second.

[00:56:02.04]
- Beth, call the roll please, would you?

[00:56:05.04]
- Gary.
- Yes.

[00:56:07.09]
- Wayne.
- Yes.

[00:56:10.00]
- Martin.
- Yes.

[00:56:11.09]
- David.
- Yes.

[00:56:14.01]
- Dan.

[00:56:15.01]
- Yes, the motion carries.

[00:56:16.01]
I'd like to thank all of you
for your testimony this morning

[00:56:18.08]
and the courteous way that
you presented your facts.

[00:56:24.07]
We appreciate that.

[00:56:25.09]
We're gonna move on...

[00:56:39.00]
- For the last three years,

[00:56:40.00]
we watched how spot zoning industrial

[00:56:41.08]
can lead to sprawling industrial.

[00:56:43.09]
I am against the railport.

[00:56:45.03]
It is too close to Trenton, it
is too close to Trenton Lake,

[00:56:48.02]
and it threatens my
family and our way of life

[00:56:50.02]
with the never-ending stress
of fighting industrial sprawl.

[00:56:53.09]
Many of us local country people
are losing our way of life

[00:56:56.06]
and will lose it all
if there isn't smarter,

[00:56:59.03]
more calculated decisions
about the land, about my home.

[00:57:14.05]
- [Commissioner] Motion carries.

[00:57:23.04]
- I wanted to tell you
how good that letter was,

[00:57:26.03]
how moving it was, and how I
had a little tear in my eye

[00:57:28.07]
because we don't hear much--

[00:57:30.03]
we don't hear those
heartfelt things very often.

[00:57:32.03]
- Thanks.

[00:57:33.02]
[laughing]

[00:57:46.01]
I'm super-grateful for
just having a victory,

[00:57:49.07]
but it doesn't feel good.

[00:57:53.01]
It feels like a relief.

[00:57:55.08]
And that's about as good as it gets.

[00:57:59.07]
It's just a teensy-tiny little thing

[00:58:01.09]
in the midst of what's going on.

[00:58:12.00]
I don't want fighting to be the future

[00:58:14.08]
for my nieces and nephews.

[00:58:18.02]
But owning land and
loving land and whatever,

[00:58:21.00]
it's gonna be a fight from this point on.

[00:58:29.06]
- [Jed] A lotta these people
in the oil patch are like,

[00:58:32.00]
"Well, why are you so damn
protective about stuff out here?"

[00:58:35.01]
- Oh yeah, this close.
- You're going to my house.

[00:58:37.01]
- And I don't blame
them for not getting it.

[00:58:40.07]
I am very protective of my way of life

[00:58:42.09]
because I make a living off this land.

[00:58:46.04]
And I truly wanna leave this
land better than I found it.

[00:58:50.02]
And my kids, a major
reason why I do what I do

[00:58:54.09]
is so I can ranch with my boys.

[00:58:57.09]
Just ride the rough out of him

[00:58:59.09]
so the other kids can ride him.

[00:59:01.09]
- [Beau] OK, so trot him around?

[00:59:03.08]
- Just, if he starts
buckin', just ride him.

[00:59:06.06]
- [Beau] What do you mean, "buckin'"?

[00:59:07.06]
- Bucking, like bucking,
like a bucking horse.

[00:59:09.07]
'Cause I don't want him to
buck on these other kids.

[00:59:11.04]
So, you're going to have
to cowboy up, boy, OK?

[00:59:14.04]
- [Beau] Why, is he really,
like, naughty right now?

[00:59:16.03]
- Look at him.

[00:59:19.01]
Just look at him.

[00:59:19.09]
He's just ready to blow up.

[00:59:21.04]
Look how wild he is right now.

[00:59:23.05]
You know I'm teasing you, right?

[00:59:24.08]
- Yeah.
- OK, get on.

[00:59:28.08]
- [Beau] Look at him,
he almost fell asleep.

[00:59:31.05]
- When I was saddled up with my boys,

[00:59:33.02]
that was the first time

[00:59:34.01]
that all three of us went single horses

[00:59:36.08]
to go get a group of cows moved.

[00:59:39.03]
And I'm like, finally!

[00:59:41.06]
I've been waiting for
this since they were born.

[00:59:49.01]
I don't know, that's wealth
right there in my opinion.

[01:00:00.07]
- Things in the oil patch,

[01:00:03.07]
you know, they came to a roaring halt.

[01:00:07.06]
The price of oil went down so low.

[01:00:09.08]
I got laid off in, I think, April.

[01:00:13.04]
I miss the money [laughs].

[01:00:16.03]
I bought a pickup.

[01:00:18.02]
[drill whining]

[01:00:19.05]
More cookware.

[01:00:20.09]
[drill whining]

[01:00:22.04]
My philosophy is, why save it?

[01:00:24.00]
You can't take it with you.

[01:00:25.07]
And I haven't got anybody
to pass it on to, so...

[01:00:32.03]
That's because back in 1978,

[01:00:35.09]
we were drilling test
holes for a uranium mine,

[01:00:38.05]
and this pipe free-fell.

[01:00:41.02]
They estimated about 12 feet.

[01:00:43.07]
It caught my hand and
punched a hole through it.

[01:00:45.05]
And then I was infected.

[01:00:47.03]
I was poisoned with the pipe dope.

[01:00:51.02]
I think that's why I lost my
ability to father children.

[01:00:57.00]
That's just part of the territory.

[01:00:59.05]
If man was afraid to burn up the world,

[01:01:03.04]
would we have fire to this day?

[01:01:07.04]
[pensive instrumental music]

[01:01:34.07]
- What is really powerful about this fight

[01:01:37.00]
is it's coming from a rural place.

[01:01:40.06]
And there's a lot of people coming

[01:01:43.01]
and fighting for the
preservation of a rural place.

[01:01:47.02]
- Now the National Guard's down there.

[01:01:48.09]
They're getting the attention

[01:01:49.08]
because they had the cajones
to do something about it.

[01:01:52.05]
- But we will see more people come

[01:01:56.09]
to defend the life.

[01:01:58.07]
[crowd cheering]

[01:02:00.04]
- And these guys care
about 200 years from now.

[01:02:03.01]
They have the foresight to care.

[01:02:05.03]
[phone notification dinging]

[01:02:07.07]
Laura's asking me,

[01:02:08.09]
"Are you still going to
Standing Rock tomorrow?"

[01:02:12.04]
Yep.

[01:02:13.06]
[protestors chanting and cheering]

[01:02:25.05]
- [Woman] This was our place first!

[01:02:28.04]
This is our home!

[01:02:32.04]
- All these people coming
together to defend water.

[01:02:38.08]
It's the only way to get
people's attention anymore

[01:02:41.07]
if you truly wanna protect a place.

[01:02:43.06]
[police sirens wailing]

[01:02:47.08]
Standing Rock shouldn't have to do that

[01:02:49.03]
to get anybody's attention.

[01:02:57.01]
I will never look at a protest

[01:02:59.02]
or an environmental movement the same.

[01:03:02.04]
[protestors chanting and cheering]

[01:03:04.04]
What the media paints as
radical environmentalists,

[01:03:07.09]
in my experience

[01:03:08.09]
it's just people who are
losing their way of life.

[01:03:18.04]
In Trenton, people turned
against each other.

[01:03:22.00]
Had we tried to protest like this,

[01:03:25.09]
maybe we would've gotten,
like, national media attention

[01:03:29.02]
at some level.

[01:03:30.00]
I don't know.

[01:03:37.08]
[rumbling drum beats]

[01:04:14.08]
There you go.

[01:04:17.03]
There it is.

[01:04:18.08]
The Dakota Access Pipeline,

[01:04:23.00]
about a mile from where I grew up.

[01:04:28.05]
It's kind of ironic for me

[01:04:29.06]
to go and support an
anti-pipeline protest [laughs].

[01:04:33.01]
I was fighting refineries here.

[01:04:36.00]
The only alternative to not
have oils come outta here

[01:04:38.07]
is to have the refineries here.

[01:04:41.03]
Say that refinery went through

[01:04:42.07]
and what we were fighting
turned into an industrial park.

[01:04:45.09]
Maybe we wouldn't have
to ship oil outta here.

[01:04:58.06]
I'm just gonna peek around
to see if I'll be noticed.

[01:05:04.05]
[gentle piano music]

[01:05:09.06]
- [Roger] When I go up in the hills

[01:05:10.07]
and look over that railport,

[01:05:13.07]
I can still remember what
it looked like before.

[01:05:16.06]
I can still see grass growing
there, or wheat fields.

[01:05:21.02]
The next generation probably
won't be able to do that.

[01:05:26.02]
I just wish that we coulda
done something different there.

[01:05:36.07]
- We don't blame Roger
for how things turned out.

[01:05:41.05]
You never know how it's gonna turn out.

[01:05:43.01]
So, no, we don't blame him.

[01:05:57.07]
- I think it's on the other side.

[01:06:03.09]
- I've got people that
don't care what I did,

[01:06:06.02]
some that are, "Hey, that
makes my ground more valuable."

[01:06:10.01]
And I've got some that say,
"We don't like what you did."

[01:06:13.09]
When the price of oil comes back

[01:06:15.04]
and they do build the refinery,

[01:06:17.02]
I believe the church will be moved.

[01:06:19.01]
I believe it will finally move.

[01:06:21.04]
And...

[01:06:23.02]
That's alright, you know?

[01:06:27.07]
- I'd rather see that church stay,

[01:06:30.00]
right next to that oil refinery

[01:06:31.05]
as a reminder of what...

[01:06:36.04]
Of what it's about.

[01:06:39.06]
Maybe with that church sitting there

[01:06:40.07]
all them guys driving by there,

[01:06:43.07]
it'll make 'em think about that
for a second, I don't know.

[01:06:57.06]
- So this is where the pipeline
is crossing the river here.

[01:07:04.02]
So the river is coming in
from Montana and Yellowstone,

[01:07:07.07]
and it'll go to Standing Rock
and it'll keep going down

[01:07:12.00]
the whole rest of the United States,

[01:07:14.05]
and this is just one of
the places that it crosses.

[01:07:20.00]
I didn't appreciate
this when I was younger.

[01:07:22.04]
It was just the way we grew up.

[01:07:24.07]
Like, you didn't think about it.

[01:07:26.07]
Just, it was the way it was.

[01:07:30.05]
Everybody wants to find
the perfect place to be.

[01:07:33.03]
And there's all these national
parks and all these places

[01:07:35.07]
that people love and,
like,  the ocean and stuff.

[01:07:38.01]
And I'm like, after a place
gets kind of tore up like this,

[01:07:41.04]
who's loving it?

[01:07:43.00]
Who's out there loving
these broken places?

[01:07:49.00]
Maybe we should leave,
maybe we should've left.

[01:07:51.02]
I don't know if it was smart to stay.

[01:07:52.07]
I still don't know.

[01:07:54.08]
But I still love it here.

[01:07:58.04]
I still love this.

[01:08:02.00]
I don't love winter.

[01:08:04.03]
But...

[01:08:06.03]
All of this got under my skin
and I just can't let it go,

[01:08:09.09]
as much as sometimes I wanted to.

[01:08:18.08]
[contemplative rock music]