There is an unforgettable scene in the cable-TV series BoomTown where an oil company landman tells a hardscrabble rancher that drilling leases on his barren land will now pay him $1 million a year.

         The look on his face reflects shock and thankfulness.

         That same scene is being portrayed in eastern Wyoming right now as oil companies are scanning the vast prairies for oil. Lots of oil.

         It is also occurring for leases for big wind turbines, but that is another story for another column. Today, we are writing about an old-fashioned oil gold rush.

         The TV series BoomTown can be seen on cable on the Planet Green cable channel and documents the oil rush in the little town of Parshall, N. D. where the Bakken Shale is yielding millions of barrels of new oil.

         Residents of eastern Wyoming should tune in and watch it – what happened in Parshall in front of the TV cameras is going to happen in the next five years all over the eastern part of our state.

         This whole oil boom story in eastern Wyoming took an interesting twist a few weeks ago when it was announced the Chinese were investing $1.3 billion in a deal with some American companies. They would acquire a one-third interest in a project involving 800,000 acres in an area called the Denver-Julesberg Basin, which includes Niobrara Shale in SE Wyoming and the Powder River Basin up toward and including Campbell County.

Primary American company is Chesapeake Energy Corp, which is based in Oklahoma City. The agreement sees the Chinese spending roughly one-third of the $700 million it will cost to drill all the initial wells.

          CNOOC (Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation) is the entity involved and this is their second big deal with Chesapeake. Earlier they committed part of a $2.2 billion deal to drill in Texas at a place called the Eagle Shale play.

         Meanwhile back in North Dakota, the TV show reveals how the town, itself, is making $150,000 per month just selling water to the oil companies.

         It is hard to find anyone pictured on the show who sees the oil invasion as bad. One motel maid is thinking of buying the motel she has worked at for the past two decades because oil was discovered within the city limits. She owns three nondescript lots in the town, but will share in the wealth.

         Only exception to the joy is a ranch owner named Donny who, unfortunately, does not own the oil rights beneath the land he farms. He is now surrounded by rigs and spends most of his time choking on dust caused by huge trucks rolling up and down his rural road 24 hours a day.

         Wyoming was featured in another widely-viewed movie this past year concerning energy.

         A documentary nominated for an Academy Award called Gasland showed residents of Pavillion (northwest of Riverton) complaining that their water wells had been spoiled by natural gas exploration.

         A process called “fracking” had caused their water to be contaminated by various kinds of chemicals.

         Perhaps the most memorable scene in the entire movie shows a local being able to ignite the water coming out of his kitchen tap. It bursts into flames when he puts a lighter on it.

         An amazing scene and one that provides a cautionary tale.

         Gasland shows up on the HBO cable network every once in awhile, too.

         Most recently the Wyoming Environmental Quality Council has decided to look into the plight of these Pavillion folks.

         What these TV shows and documentaries and news stories show is there are always two sides to every story.

         On one side are people who suddenly are offered riches beyond their wildest dreams – something that has happened throughout Wyoming’s history, even before it became a state.

         On the other hand are the folks who are victimized by the energy activities and to whom, the whole experience becomes a curse. Many people in the Pavillion area have complained of serious health issues, for example.

         In Sublette County, the energy companies are scrambling to deal with a public relations disaster that has been occurring where people feel they are being “gassed” by high ozone readings. So far the energy companies have lost that PR battle.

         Wyoming is now moving along toward an extended Golden Age in the area of energy development. It is important to protect our citizens from the unforeseen but deadly consequences of over-zealous activities by powerful and rich out-of-state (and now, even non-American) super corporations.

         Never blame a legislature for not doing something. When they do nothing, they don’t hurt anybody. When they do something is when they become dangerous. – Will Rogers

         There are lots of jokes associated with legislators, which exclaim how safe we are now that the session is over.

         In looking back at the recently completed event, well, it is easy to come to the conclusion that the Wyoming 2011 session was an odd one, at that.

         For example, Teachers were brutalized at the beginning and almost celebrated at the end – go figure.

         Virtually no attention was given to severance taxes or energy development, except for dropping the ball on some important wind legislation.

         It was hard to find anyone in the state who felt the legislators used their time wisely in Cheyenne – except the legislators themselves and the energy lobbyists who came through unscathed again.

         One observer said the legislature seems to be comprised of four types of members:

         • Smart legislators who did a few dumb things.

         • Dumb legislators who did a few smart things.

         • Smart legislators who actually did a few smart things.

         • Way too many dumb legislators who did way too many dumb things.

         Do I agree with that? Heck, I don’t know. Actually, I spent less time in Cheyenne at the Legislature this year than any time in my 41 years in Wyoming. I did not even attend one session, so all I know is what is in the newspapers and what people tell me.

         Back in 1930, humorist Will Rogers had this to say about people who make laws. Amazing how true some of this still is today:

         “The Legislature is so strange; a man gets up to speak and says nothing. Nobody listens and then everybody disagrees."

         "We all joke about the Legislature but we can`t improve on them. Have you noticed that no matter who we elect, he is just as bad as the one he replaces?"

"When the Legislature makes a joke it`s a law. And when they make a law, it`s a joke."

It seems that across the country legislators are going crazy. The Democrat Senators in Wisconsin who fled to Illinois to avoid voting set the bar pretty high for nuttiness.

In Vermont where guns are available to anyone without permits, a legislator wanted to fine those people who are NOT armed. Now that is a concept. Might be hard for some terrorist to do some bad things in the Green Mountain State.

In Montana, some legislative members have apparently wasted even more time than here in Wyoming.

Prominent members of the body are saying they are the “laughingstock of the nation” for attempts to legislate items like embracing global warming as a good thing, using state employees as “punching bags” and gutting the endangered species act. Hmm, sounds like three programs that would have backers in Cheyenne, too.

It is easy for alleged pundits like myself to pick on our legislators. But I do not want to do their job, that is for sure.

One morning it was –51 wind chill in Cheyenne. These men and women are getting up at 5 a.m. to go to meetings and then have to sit in stuffy sessions all day and listen to others drone on and on.

And each evening they have to endure incredibly good food and unlimited booze at the expense of lobbyists. Sometimes there are two or three of these each night.

Besides being wind-blown, brain dead and stuffed like turkeys, they feel they are doing a real service for the people of Wyoming. And most of the time, I agree.

A columnist in Pittsburgh even recalled one of Will Rogers’ quotes about Congress that was written in 1930 and could be applied today:

“That`s what is most agitating about our Congress. Too many members on both sides of the aisle are narrow-minded, partisan and looking to advance their self-interests. The average American doesn`t like that. The average American knows that the country is facing giant challenges entitlement programs that are going to bankrupt us, radicals who want to blow us up, spending that has spiraled out of control.”

And that was back in 1930. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

         A couple of weeks ago, I predicted another Golden Age for Wyoming.

         Usually this refers to the high prices that our coal, natural gas, uranium and oil are getting in the marketplace, which I predict is happening.

Lately other important sectors of Wyoming’s business world are starting to boom, too. 

Biggest new deal would a proposed $1 billion Verizon data center in Laramie. Seems that consistent cool (sometimes cold) winds make that location very attractive.

         This goes along with the NCAR Super Computer site that is half completed in Cheyenne. This will be one of the most powerful computers in the world and is expected to generate many peripheral businesses.

Along with that is the arrival of a company that builds wind turbine towers locating in Cheyenne. Glad to see that occurring.

         These are all jobs that presumably would not be affected by the ups and downs of energy prices, which have plunged our state into boom/bust economic cycles often in our history.

         The fast development of Eleutian Language Technologies in the Big Horn Basin and Casper also bodes well. That company uses Wyoming workers to teach English to students all over the world, especially Korea and China.

         Even the new Wyoming Catholic College here in Lander, which pumps $4 million annually in our local economy, is typical of this new type of non-energy job development.

         All the above got me thinking about how a person gets a job, keeps a job or manages to hire people to do a job.

In most parts of the country, finding and keeping employment has become “job one” for most employees. With up to 18 percent of the country’s workers unemployed, the despair of joblessness is a national epidemic.

         So how can a person protect himself or herself from losing their job? I have a few simple rules that could apply.

My favorite business quote actually comes from the bible, Solomon`s wisdom in Proverbs: Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all you are getting, get understanding

         How often have we held jobs where we did what we were told to do, but really did not truly understand what was going on? 

         I became an employer at the age of 24, and with that transition, found out what it was like to make decisions that affected those people working for me.

         And often, the persons who got promoted or were kept in employment were the ones who “got it.”

         If you work for a bank, do you really know how banking works? If you are a government worker, do you fully understand the laws that are guiding your reason for existence?

         In today’s economy, working as a middle manager for a company or doing almost any government-type job can be risky. In an era of direct-to-the-customer marketing, the poor middleman can suddenly be expendable.

         It is survival of the fittest time. 

         Those who work the smartest and hardest and know the most about their business should survive during difficult economic times.

         And as usual, the best sales people will always have job security. Someone who knows how to sell will never be out of job.

         It was just three years ago that Lander had a booming real estate industry like most cities and towns across Wyoming. Today, it looks like there are half as many agents still active and most of the bigger firms have downsized or merged with others. The downturn in the economy has weeded out the under-performers.

         Loyalty is another huge issue in maintaining your job security.

And this creates an odd conundrum where, on the one hand, we suggest you learn all you can about your business so that you can become indispensable or so you can easily grab another job if yours disappears. But during times of stress, many employers will retain those folks whom they consider to be most loyal.

         Note that under the new Code of the West adopted by the state, “Ride for the Brand” is listed number seven of ten attributes to be admired.

         Even when I had to lay someone off because of the economy, if it was obvious they were loyal, then you would do everything in your power to help them out. 

         This could mean extra severance pay or assistance in helping them find another job.

         All of these tips are good things to know as the job market in Wyoming starts to improve. 

         Soon, we may be the envy of the country in other ways besides our traditional energy base.