Winthrop Roosevelt, the great-great grandson of Theodore Roosevelt, narrates this video from ThinkProgess about the unabated “boom with no boundaries” from the exploding oil and gas development in the Bakken formation of western North Dakota. Drilling operations now encroach and encircle Roosevelt National Park, threatening one of the nations most enduring and unique wild places.
As noted in ThinkProgress, the residents of North Dakota featured in the film are not against oil and gas development, “but at what cost?” There needs to be a balance between conservation and development and who will speak for the land?
“I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”
-Theodore Roosevelt
Featured image credit: danielfoster437, courtesy flickr
