The US shale oil boom has been heralded as an economic windfall for small towns from New Mexico to North Dakota. But it has also strained local public services, putting a toll on education, infrastructure and housing, while leaving many communities moresusceptible to the boom and bust nature of oil prices. On this week’s Platts Capitol Crude podcast, we talk with Daniel Raimi, a senior research associate at Resources for the Future and a lecturer at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, on what the federal government should do to help local communities impacted by oil price volatility. Raimi is co-author of a recent study, Economic Volatility in Oil Producing Regions: Impact and Federal Policy Options.