• Vast reserves. North Dakota ranks seventh largest among coal-producing states, with 35 billion tons of recoverable reserves, mostly in the form of lignite. There are four major mines in the state with production averaging about 30 million tons per year. The state also is the ninth-largest producer of oil in the United States.

• Abundant water supplies. The Missouri River flows through North Dakota bringing fresh, clean water from the Rocky Mountains. The Garrison Dam on the river creates Lake Sakakawea, the third largest man-made lake in the country, with a surface area of 368,000 acres and water storage of
23 million acre feet.

• Transportation. The region has direct access to the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad, easy access to Interstate 94 and has an international airport only an hour away from the center of major energy industry activities.

• Communications. The energy industry is connected with infrastructure and bandwidth similar to metropolitan areas (an OC-48 Sonet Ring and fiber optic lines), but there is much less traffic currently on the lines.

• Industry. Seven high-tech power plants are located in the region. They produce electricity for use in North Dakota, but most of their product is sold into the power grid to customers throughout the Upper Midwest. A state-of-the-art coal gasification plant delivers about 52 billion cubic feet of synthetic natural gas to Midwest markets annually. It also produces nine byproducts such as fertilizers for agriculture production, chemicals for use in manufacturing and food processing and carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery. The state also has an oil refinery capable of refining 60,000 barrels of crude oil per day into gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, propane and butane.