January 21, 2013

Kuwait on the Prairie

usa_night

Light in the North Dakota darkness.

When oil comes to the surface, it often brings natural gas with it, and according to North Dakota’s Department of Mineral Resources, 29 percent of the natural gas now extracted in North Dakota is flared off. Gas isn’t as profitable as oil, and the energy companies don’t always build the pipes or systems to carry it away. For a year (with extensions), North Dakota allows drillers to burn gas, just let it flare. There are now so many gas wells burning fires in the North Dakota night, the fracking fields can be seen from deep space.

(via npr.org)

posted by in business, environment, ethics, geography, government, nature, news, no shit, public policy, science, space, technology | * | 3 comments 

comments

  1. Sheila Ryan on January 21st, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    Man, I know people who know people in those North Dakota fracking fields. Know a family owns a big old plot of land out there.

  2. Michael Grant Smith on January 21st, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    You say they own the top of a big old plot of land?

  3. Sheila Ryan on January 21st, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    Big old top of a big old plot.