North Dakota is home to the nation’s largest proven reserves of shale oil - a potential source of jobs, income, and reliable energy supplies for the next 100 years. However, tapping the Bakken's full potential will require industry leaders and public officials to confront challenges that pose an even greater threat to oil and gas development than today's low prices.North Dakotans are frustrated by what feels like an endless parade of problems that have accompanied the Bakken Boom.

Some of these challenges (e.g. natural gas flaring, truck traffic) are being addressed through infrastructure build-out and sensible regulations. But others such as worker fatalities, toxic spills, and poor-quality reclamation stubbornly persist. Many of these problems can all be solved, but only when project owners and state regulators decide it's more important to build pipeline and energy infrastructure the right way than to build it on the cheap.