Boomtown: Risks and Rewards in the Peace Garden State

North Dakota’s oil boom has spawned sudden increases in population, business, and opportunity for roughnecks and lawyers alike. But the challenges for practitioners and courts have grown apace.

Unless you have been living under a rock (that is, any rock other than the massive shale formation known as “The Bakken”), you have likely heard by now that our next-door neighbor to the west is thriving. Separated from us in part by the Red River of the North, the state of North Dakota has been enjoying unprecedented financial and economic prosperity in recent years. The state’s success is due in part to record farm commodity prices that have boosted the state’s substantial farming industry,1 but what is largely responsible for the state’s burgeoning economy is the significant oil boom occurring in the state’s western half.