In an article entitled Many States Appear To Be In Recession, North Dakota is listed among a few energy-producing states that are economically strong.  Non-energy producing states are struggling more.  From the article:

Some states “have declined so much that they appear to be in a recession,” the NCSL report said.

It also noted the silver lining for states where the economy is based on energy, such as North Dakota and Wyoming. Alaska is making so much money from oil that it announced an estimated surplus next year of $8 billion, almost twice the state’s annual budget.

In North Dakota, revenue is above legislative predictions by 13 percent, and in Louisiana, the oil and gas sector is robust.

“For energy-producing states, the fiscal situation is strong and the outlook is good,” the report said.

The recent attention regarding the Bakken formation, our vast coal reserves and the continued development of wind energy puts us in a strong economic position compared to the rest of the nation.  The exciting thing is that we’re actually working on developing these strengths.