The Examiner is reporting that new technology could open up an area, which in 1995 had 151 million barrels of recoverable oil (quite small). Thanks to new technology, now drillers could get at approximately 25 times that. The Bakken Formation, as its called, is located in eastern Montana and western North Dakota. Here’s the real meat of it:

That would make it by far the largest recoverable oil area in the 48 mainland states — and, if available all at once, it could replace every drop of American oil imports for about 10 months. But here’s where the story gets even better: Estimates of total oil deposits in the Bakken Formation run between 170 billion and 400 billion barrels, or in other words, up to 100 times the size of even the new estimate of what is “technically recoverable.” That’s where the lesson really comes in: If, in 13 years, technology has improved enough to multiply the recoverable assets by 25 times, what’s to say that technological advancements won’t make available the rest of these vast reserves in an additional 10 or 20 years?

Note to our representatives in Congress: do not let what happened in Alaska’s ANWR happen here.