Economics

Badlands Crude

A North Dakota Indian reservation has struck oil—and that’s the problem

A fracking well burns on Fort Berthold. According to a tribe member, there have been about 70 reports of oil-related pollution since 2009Photograph by Ben Grieme

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By Felix Gillette

November 8, 2012 at 8:16 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

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This article is part of the November 7, 2012 issue of businessweek.

Badlands Crude — Tex Hall, head of three affiliated tribes, runs an oil empire in the DakotasPhotograph by Ben Grieme

Tex Hall strolls across a parking lot at the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota and enters the tribe’s administrative headquarters. Hall, 56, is wearing jeans, cowboy boots, and an ornate silver belt buckle the size of a tortoise shell. He removes his sunglasses. Inside, the tribal business chamber has the air of a bustling county courthouse. Hall is the reservation’s top elected leader, chairman of the 12,000 members of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes). Over the past century, Fort Berthold has struggled with poverty and high unemployment, but recently its fortunes have been on the upswing. The reservation has struck oil.