Beating up the roads

[cowman]

I bring this idea over from the beef side?
How come when a rig moves or a frac outfit is working a well over the county requires a pre inspection, post inspection, bond, often a grader/water truck present...all paid for by the oil company...but when a feedlot/hogbarn destroys miles of road hauling silage or manure...that is okay?
How come when someone complains about oil field workers driving too fast the old county mountie is right out there, but some of these darned kids driving silage trucks can act like they are at the Daytona 500? One old gent a few miles away phoned and complained about how fast they were driving and how the dust was ferocious and was told if he didn't like it he should get out of the country! He told the county girl "Well my people settled on this farm in 1896 and there was no damned road here then! I don't think I should have to put up with this BS because some damned immigrant who got off a cattle boat in 1955 wants to be a millionaire!"
Now why wasn't that silage outfit required to have a water truck out? Why wouldn't they send out the county mountie to keep the boys from setting a new world record for silage trucks! Why wasn't a grader out smoothing the road down?
The answer to all of these questions is: The farmer has to get his crop up. If the trucks don't go like hell the chopper might have to wait. There isn't enough money in farming to pay for things like graders and water trucks. Safety must be sacrificed so the farmer can make money.
I wonder is this the way we want to go? Personally I couldn't care less if this guy needs to haul 8 miles because he is too cheap to rent or buy land close to home? I don't think it is unreasonable to expect him to keep up the road he is destroying or pay to ensure the safety of the people living along that road?

[Horse]

The public works superintendent of our municipality brought a draft policy to council last summer in an attempt to address exactly what you are referencing cowman.
One of the council members called one of the feedlot operators and the entire council chambers was full of agricultural operators raising hell !!
Council referred it to the Ag Service Board and they watered down the policy so all that has to happen is that operators must call the county prior to hauling silage, hay, manure etc.,and the county will have graders and water trucks available.
Needless to say the oil and gas industry is totally 'p'd off !!!

[cowman]

Now without a doubt I can see both sides of this thing! The fact is that farmer has to make hay while the sun shines! And yep there isn't much money in agriculture!
At a recent townhall meeting the reeve told us residential and farm land taxes only make up 30% of revenue for the county, and actual farmland only pays 11%! Industry(read that as basically the oil field and services) pays the rest! He seemed to be trying to say we shouldn't be bitching about oil companies beating up the roads!
I got up and said "That may very well be but you are forgetting that we, the landowners own the roads! And further more we own this damned Taj Mahal where you are having your meeting!"
As you can see sometimes I am not the most popular guy with the politicians!

[wmoebis]

I'n my area it is 30 & 36 ft combine headers on combines and big 4 wheeldrives with air seeders. Going down rolling, hilly roads with no one out in front or behind.

[cakadu]

With the exception of certain times of the year, a producer may - and I stress may - only be "pounding" the road for a few weeks during the entire year.

The farm family may have been paying taxes for many years, not to mention several generations. It has only been in the last 18 months that the rigs have been going as much as they have been i.e. record drilling. Some of the roads are used by the oil companies to move many rigs in a short span of time - coalbed methane drilling comes to mind - where they are in and out and have the rig moved in less than a week. Several rigs can be moving at one time in an area, water trucks are continually hauling water etc. etc.

It may not be that the producer you are referring to cowman is "cheap", rather he has to rent or buy farther away from home because there may be acreages and/or some sort of subdivision that has taken away the land in the immediate area, others have bought up or own the land around him and aren't willing to sell or rent, etc.

If a municipality is reaping so much money from the oil companies then they should be using the money to fix the roads that the bond is on. I can assure you cowman that it is not farm equipment that is making such a mess of the roads around my area. If one lived in feedlot alley, there might be an argument that the producer should pay.

It isn't the majority of producers living along the roads that are benefitting from oil company payments - unless of course the producer has the lease and even then they probably haven't gotten anywhere near the money the municipality has.

Wouldn't the most prudent way to look at it be that whomever is using it the most - be it producer or oil company - should have to pay something? How do you justify making producers pay, when there isn't much margin - if any exists at all - compared to an oil company that is making a great deal of money?

If acreage owners in the vicinity of a larger municipality are driving into town multiple times per day, then shouldn't they pay something too? How do you mete out who pays and how much? After all, acreage owners pay far more in taxes than producers do as a rule.

[cowman]

Linda: You are probably right in regards to this particular farmer. The chances of his buying land where his home place is are slim to none...at least in any economical sense.
Before a rig/frac moves the route is pre-inspected. They are told when they can move, whether a water truck and grader are required...all on the decision of the inspector(who is a contractor). After the move there is a post inspection at which time the inspector decides whether the road needs attention or whether it is fine. The bond the company put up is not realeased until the inspector tells the county things are in proper shape.
If you are not happy with the way things are after a move, or how it was handled during the move, you need to let the county know? If the inspection contractor is not doing his job then the county needs to know?