In North Dakota, Wasted Natural Gas Flickers Against the Sky – NYTimes.com.
In North Dakota, Flames of Wasted Natural Gas Light the Prairie
Thirty percent of the natural gas extracted in North Dakota is flared off, like this gas near Ray. More Photos »
Published: September 26, 2011
NEW TOWN, N.D. — Across western North Dakota, hundreds of fires rise above fields of wheat and sunflowers and bales of hay. At night, they illuminate the prairie skies like giant fireflies.
Every day, more than 100 million cubic feet of natural gas is flared this way — enough energy to heat half a million homes for a day.
The flared gas also spews at least two million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, as much as 384,000 cars or a medium-size coal-fired power plant would emit, alarming some environmentalists. (Read more)
