Oil boom leading to overpopulation, creating safety concerns in towns of the West

The oil boom has brought economic growth to several Western states but has also caused headaches and presented safety concerns for small towns that can't keep up with the speed at which their areas are growing. One such town is Carlsbad, N.M., a town of 27,000 that is growing twice as fast as the rest of the state and is struggling with the unexpected growth, Monica Ortiz Uribe reports for Marketplace. (Uribe photo: Wages are high, but so is the cost of living)

New Mexico has flourished, becoming the nation's sixth largest oil producing state, which should be good news for towns like Carlsbad. Maybe not. "The industry is creating thousands of jobs in the southeast corner of the state," Uribe reports. "But all that activity is straining basic services. Housing is limited, classrooms are crowded and roads are more dangerous." The area has already had 10 traffic fatalities this year, much higher than normal.

During the past two years the school district has enrolled 200 new students, but teachers are scarce because the ones who are hired can't find housing, Uribe writes. School Supt. Gary Perkowski told Uribe, "Last year we lost ten teachers that came to Carlsbad, signed contracts . . . and could not find housing. We had one guy that was trying to live with his family in a motel at a hundred and something dollars a night, and that didn't last long." Because of the high demand for housing, "major hotel chains in Carlsbad charge rates comparable to New York City."

Mayor Dale Janway "said developers can't build fast enough," Uribe writes. "New apartments have waiting lists. Workers live in outlying RV parks. But it's not just the oil industry. This region is a major producer of potash, a component in fertilizer. A new mine should start construction this year. The U.S. Department of Energy also runs the country's only permanent nuclear waste facility just outside town." (Read more)