The question is whether rail will remain competitive after more pipeline capacity is added—history has said it won't—but Keene disagrees. “Railroads will discount their rates to compete with the pipelines in the future. The railroads have seen energy as an area of growth for them and they will take the steps to make sure that happens,” he says.

Shale deposits also are a source of natural gas, and Tulsa-based ONEOK Partners is in the early stages of developing a $450-million to $550-million, 525-mile, natural-gas-liquids pipeline that will transport material from mining sites to processing plants. It plans to invest approximately $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion for Bakken-related growth projects by 2014.

Boom and Bust?

However, will North Dakota be the victim of a boom-bust-cycle after the infrastructure is built and the wells level off? One expert says that while the oil industry will require an average of 8,000 employees during the construction and drilling stage, only 800 will be needed to maintain the industry in its production phase. Other sources say the facilities and infrastructure created in the construction phase of the Bakken's transformation will have positive, long-term economic advantages for the state.

“Certainly our company is experiencing growth when it comes to the energy sector, and North Dakota is a part of that,” Greenberg says.