Senators in spate over which state hosts FBI in Bakken shale

AP/Fuel Fix:
The FBI’s possible plan to station permanent agents in the Bakken oil patch of Montana and North Dakota as the drilling boom drives crime rates higher has sparked a dispute between lawmakers from the two states over where the agents should be located.

Crime on both sides of the states’ border has spiked as thousands of new workers brings drug traffickers in their wake.

Since July, two FBI agents and an agency intelligence specialist have been stationed in Sidney, Mont., according to authorities. But those postings have been temporary, and a request is pending to make them permanent, FBI spokesman Kyle Loven in Minneapolis said Friday.

North Dakota Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and John Hoeven want the agents moved about 45 miles northwest to Williston, N.D., considered the heart of the oil patch. Montana Sen. Jon Tester and Rep. Steve Daines want the agents to remain in Sidney.

Loven said a final decision will be up to FBI headquarters. He could not offer a timetable.

“The FBI understands that the Bakken area is changing and changing rapidly and we have a responsibility there as far as federal crimes and to assist state and local partners,” Loven said. “Wherever that permanent presence ends up, the hope is the FBI is able to permanently maintain a cadre of agents in the area.”

Although the FBI’s numbers in the Bakken are small, local law enforcement authorities describe the agency’s help as crucial given the more sophisticated nature of crime rings seeking their own piece of the region’s oil riches.
...
I have not heard of similar crime problems in the South Texas Eagle Ford play, even though it is obviously much closer to Mexico where the cartels fight over corridors for delivering drugs into the US.  I think law enforcement in Texas has been actively looking at the problem since before the oil boom.

As for which is the best place to keep an FBI office, from this distance it is hard to see why it makes much diference, but it does sound like something the FBI should be able to figure out on their own.

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