The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that “North Dakota has joined the big leagues of crude oil production, surpassing 1 million barrels per day — an output second only to Texas in the U.S.”  

“State officials said Tuesday that North Dakota yielded 1,001,149 barrels daily in April from a record 10,658 wells. Jubilant oil industry officials hailed the benchmark as another sign that the United States is freeing itself from the grip of foreign oil.”  

“’People can step back and say, ‘We don’t care that much about what OPEC does anymore,’  ’said North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness, reflecting on past decades when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries controlled world oil supplies.”  

“North Dakota’s oil bounty also has transformed the state economy, creating thousands of jobs and fueling a population surge that’s the fastest in the U.S. Formerly sleepy towns across the western part of the state are suddenly beset with traffic jams, housing shortages and sprawling man camps as workers from across the nation flood into the oil fields.”