Alva Review-Courier -

MIDLAND, Texas (AP) — Drilling booms have come and gone in this oil town for nearly a century. But the frenzy gripping it now is different. Overwhelming. Drilling rigs tower over suburban backyards. There's a housing crunch so severe that rents are up 30 percent in the last year alone.

This boom is engulfing the rest of West Texas, extending to areas drilling hasn't touched before. As communities welcome new jobs and business, they're struggling with an onslaught of problems from air pollution to student homelessness.

In December, companies in the Permian Basin — an ancient, oil-rich seabed th...