New energy boom

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/02/142695152/oil-boom-puts-strain-on-north-dakota-towns
"North Dakota has a low 3.5 percent unemployment rate and a state budget with a billion dollar surplus. That's because of a major oil boom in the western part of the state, a discovery of at least 2 billion barrels to be gained by fracking — the controversial process of injecting fluid deep into underground rock formations to force the oil out. The find could be the largest ever in the lower 48 states. It's expected to make North Dakota the third largest producer of oil after Alaska and Texas."

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19333957
Anadarko Petroleum Corp said today [November 14, 2011] it estimates there are between 500 million and 1.5 billion barrels of oil in Colorado's Wattenberg Field in Weld County.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/306542-shale-oil-is-the-new-energy-boom-in-the-u-s

The Niobra Shale Formation Geography
The Niobrara Shale formation covers parts of four western states – Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota and Nebraska:
Geologists have known about the oil in Niobrara for about 80 years. But no one ever thought it could be recovered economically… until now. Like the Barnett, Fayetteville, Marcellus, Haynesville and Bakken – the Niobrara is another shale play that’s been known about for some time.
But it’s only recently that some of the major exploration and production companies shifted capital and drill rigs to explore the Niobrara.
And it’s only since the advent of hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling that it’s possible for this formation to be exploited for the oil and natural gas it contains.
http://news.yahoo.com/thanks-fracking-north-dakota-midwests-own-little-saudi-205949554.html