North Dakota: #4 in Oil Production

It's official: North Dakota is # 4 in oil production, overtaking Oklahoma a while back and now surpassing Louisiana. (This is for May, 2009, production and I assume the ranking will move back and forth this next year.)

North Dakota would have to triple its production to match that of California's. With environmentalists in control in California, don't count North Dakota out. Yet.

[It doesn't seem all that long ago that folks were arguing over the importance of the Bakken. Maybe in the big scheme of things -- solving world hunger, and the nation's total use of energy -- the Bakken doesn't mean all that much. But for those in North Dakota, it's a big, big deal. North Dakota is the only state that has not lost jobs during the recession; and, is one of the few states with no budgetary concerns.]