Which of the 5 states have you found the toughest as well as the most pleasant to deal with?
There are a number of factors, from politics to locals to climate and general surroundings. Basically, mine is the viewpoint of the guy on site.
Despite our allegedly hostile weather, I am biased. I like North Dakota best.
There are rules, in plain sight, and if you go by those, no problem.
Those rules also have created what is likely the most comprehensive state information library of data of any State, (some available by subscription) of every well ever drilled in the State, from permits to production records, .las files of data, and open hole and other logs conducted in the wellbores. For a relatively small fee, all that information is available. For a guy in the field, running on thin info, that has proven to be a valuable resource; all available online.
For someone doing research, there are also sample cuts from every well, and core slabs from every core archived at the University in Grand Forks.
That, and this wasn't our first oil boom (actually the third since the '50s), so people were not quite as gobsmacked by it (no one is ready to have their town triple in size in 2-3 years, I don't care who you are). Oil provides about half of the State's revenue, and people have warmed to that, but rules are meant to be followed, are common sense, and were formed in conjunction with the industry with the idea that the land would need to still be productive when the wells were P&A'd and the sites reclaimed (Agriculture was the prime economic mover when oil was discovered, and will be when the last barrel comes out of the ground).
So, I like my home state best.
I did the least amount of work in Texas, so had the least information available to me. In fairness, it was only one well in the Permian, so I do not know what resources were available there. (I was there to do geochemistry on mud gases while drilling using Mass Spec and not there as a geologist per se.). The only local hostility was minor, from the fact that things were booming, and there was not enough of much of anything (typical boom town reaction for those who hadn't seen it before, and even for those who have).
For folks who had a sufficient check from that hardware store job, suddenly dealing with an influx of people who are making multiples of their paycheck has its awkward aspects, not the least being sudden and profound increases in rent as prices go up with demand. It's one thing if you own rental properties or have an extra house to sell or rent, another if you're a renter.
Of the rest of the states I have worked in, I have found tracking down information to be a bit harder, and would welcome more information on centralized databases like North Dakota's.
Colorado changed. Weld County (DJ Basin) became politically hostile to oil activity in the late '90s and early 2000s, with the expansion of the Front Range towns, filled up with liberals from the
Rocky Mountain High invasion from California. It is a much harder place to drill a well now, for purely political reasons.
My earlier work was out west in the Piceance Basin where folks were downright friendly, and easy to work with, and there were plenty of things off site to keep a geologist busy. I found a bone bed out there and relayed the location to a former vertebrate paleo professor, who was out there during the next field season, and even contributed a couple of specimens to the mineral museum collection at my
alma mater from the same area south of Rifle.
Of all the areas I worked, the Paradox Basin (Moab, UT) was one of the most stunning to look at and putter around in, and Nevada (not in the top 10) had the most fascinating geology right outside, with lots of goodies (fossils, minerals) there for the finding. I liked Wyoming for the same reason. There are areas in all three (and Western Colorado) I'd love to revisit, just to fill the van with rocks..
