Beyond Pipelines: Impact of Oil Development on Sexual Assault

Background. Sexual assault impacts all communities. Yet, intersectional compounding factors sometimes result in certain groups and communities experiencing higher rates than others.  Rural communities may experience rather unique dynamics if there is a sudden change due to external factors, such as oil development. This study looks at how resource booms related to increased natural gas and oil production impact sexual assaults in rural communities such as North Dakota and Montana.

Methods. Findings are based on data gathered as part of a larger three-year mixed-method exploratory study funded by the National Institute of Justice exploring the impact of oil development in North Dakota and Montana (Bakken oilfields) on domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with 185 participants across counties identified as oil impacted. The inclusion criteria for these interviews included being 1) an employee of an identified service sector, elected official, or oil industry leaders in the Bakken; 2) a member of one of the reservations identified; or 3) a victim; and/or community member who either works or resides in the Bakken. NVivo, qualitative software package, was used for coding transcripts and developing a typology of themes. These techniques ensured that an adequate level of inter-coder reliability was employed.

Results. Given rapid growth and the transient nature of the population there were difficulties producing accurate estimates of sexual assault in oil-impacted communities. Nevertheless participants believed there was gross underreporting of sexual assault and other IPV crimes in the region. Perceptions of enhanced risk for sexual assault were generated by the transient nature of the population, a gender imbalance with more men in the community, the nature of oil related work, increased availability of drugs in communities, the presence of drug cartels, new types of crimes such as human trafficking, and a lack of affordable housing. Capacity issues faced by human services providers and criminal justice personnel limited both the assistance provided to survivors and criminal justice penalties for perpetrators. As a result, the human services sector struggled to adequately expand services to meet these new needs. All of these factors contributed to an increased sense of fear in the community, where women felt less safe in their communities than before the boom.

Conclusion and Implications. Participants in interviews and focus yielded a rich description of concerns about, and the changing nature of, sexual assault in the oil field communities of North Dakota and Montana.  It is important to understand these changes from a rural framework. When communities with smaller populations undergo rapid population growth, this can leave a lasting mark on the dynamics and challenges communities encounter. As many resource based communities operate in a boom and bust cycle, the impact of cyclic economic changes may weigh heavy on these communities, who are unable to expand quickly enough to meet initial needs. As a result, policy interventions are more difficult to implement, and the human service sector may be left carrying the burdens of resource development and population change.