Underestimating Oil and Water Challenges

Oil Production Boom in the Northern Great Plains is Threatening the Region's Water Resources

he Northern Great Plains has become the epicenter of new oil development in the United States. New production techniques have set off an oil boom there reminiscent of the chaotic conditions over a century ago when the prospect of black gold drew developers to Texas. Water impacts were not remotely a consideration back then. But now, unprecedented levels of drilling in this huge oil basin require the implementation of careful water management practices to protect regional resources.

Drilling takes place throughout the Great Plains' Williston oil basin, home to the Bakken, Three Forks, and Tyler formations, reaching into the U.S. states of North Dakota, South Dakota,1and Montana as well as Canada's provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. With an estimated7.4 billionbarrels of technically recoverable oil in the United States (plus an additional 1.6 billion barrels in Canada), the Williston basin is thelargest continuous oil accumulation in the country.

Source: CarnegieEndowment

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• Environment
• Water Supply
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