North Dakota is the Saudi Arabia of… oil

Claiming that a certain state or country is “the Saudi Arabia of” wind, solar, biomass or some other form of renewable energy is so three months ago.

Back in March, a Minnesota Monitor survey found the phrase becoming so commonplace it bordered on cliche. The list of places that various media outlets had recently nicknamed “The Saudi Arabia of [one alternative energy source or another]” included: Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico, the Dakotas, Oklahoma, California, Nebraska, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas, Martha’s Vineyard, Quebec, Scotland, the United Kingdom, Inner Mongolia, Australia and even Saudi Arabia.

Now comes a handsome spread in the June 6 Star Tribune (pictured) via Bloomberg News that puts an old spin on this new cliche, announcing that North Dakota is “the new Saudi Arabia of oil.” Billionaires from Texas, Oklahoma and other places that have oil know-how and big hats are finally finding ways to get at a thin layer of oil 10,000 feet down. It’s known as the Bakken formation and has tempted prying petrol barons for decades.

Bloomberg’s story comes with a fashion-forward photo of two aspiring NoDak oil moguls from Minneapolis (pictured) in fine duds, minus the hats. Strangely, the Strib gave short shrift to hometown heroes Mike Reger and Ryan Gilbertson, chopping a Saudi Arabia-sized chunk of text from the Bloomberg copy. Maybe the Strib cut the material because the local boys’ colorful approach hewed a hue too close to that of some other local boys who got suspended from school this week when their fondness for “The Dukes of Hazzard” extended to waving Confederate flags in the parking lot at Bloomington Kennedy High School.

The missing Bloomberg money quote (from Gilbertson): “We’re both cowboy-boot-wearing, country-music-listening, gun-toting sons o’ bitches.”