Infrastructure updates clarified
Infrastructure updates clarified
Goettle briefs legislators on positive changes coming in the west
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Nearly two months after quietly announcing that a number of communities and counties in western North Dakota would be getting infrastructure upgrades, North Dakota Commerce Commissioner Shane Goettle provided details to legislators this week.
More than $210 million in direct funding will go to oil and gas producing cities, counties and schools in the current biennium. That will include $165 million in oil county revenues and $50 million from royalties on federal lands in the public domain.
“The growth in oil producing counties is having a positive effect on local economies but it is also posing challenges,” Goettle said. “The good news is that city and county officials are working together, and with the state, to make progress on immediate issues, while developing thoughtful plans for permanent, long-term investments that will enhance the infrastructure of this region for years to come.”
The funding will provide improvements on several highways in the west including N.D. Highways 23, 22 and 8, as well as U.S. Highway 85.
