Just 15 years ago, the USGS maps showed almost no oil reserves in North Dakota. The point is that we don’t know what lies beneath the ground, or what resources, (like potash) may become more valuable in the future. It seems we are always getting decoyed into having the wrong discussion. Instead of negotiating away our last remaining semblance of sovereignty, we should be demanding the rights of Statehood. Not for economic development reasons, but because the supreme law of the land, The Constitution, outlined a system of limited federal power. The more power we grant to the Federal Government, the less we reserve to the States or to the People. While the immediate effect of these trades may equate to revenue for our Schools; as resources deplete, we will be left with less production, and will have taken a step away from the Founders’ design and a step toward larger, more centralized, government.