Skyrocketing oil prices have led to onshore drilling technologies in areas that were previously untapped in Western states and North Dakota (ND) has recently become the third-most active drilling state in the country (1), a state of approximately 650,000 people with a major source of the economy tied to a rapidly expanding oil and gas extraction industry (2). It is predicted ND will soon become the second-largest oil-producing state after Texas as it is believed to hold 400 billion barrels of oil and produces 35,000 barrels of oil daily (3)
