A night time satellite image of the United States shows a few concentrations of glowing lights, but not in the places you’d expect. The brightest spots aren’t the big cities but are instead clustered over North Dakota, west Texas and eastern New Mexico. That’s because this infrared photo, produced by the nonprofit SkyTruth, captures not the lights of urban centers but heat from oilfields burning, or flaring, natural gas in 40-foot-tall stacks. It’s also capturing a big problem. Satellite-detected natural gas flaring on August 12, 2020. Map by Skytruth The United States is fourth in the world in the volume of gas flared, following only Russia, Iraq and Iran. There are a number of reasons why drillers flare gas. “The most benign reason for flaring is safety,” says Gunnar Schade , an associate professor in atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M. Flaring releases pressure so that highly combustible materials don’t explode as wells are being drilled and prepared for production. Sometimes gas is also vented, without combustion, directly into that atmosphere. “But that’s actually the exception in the oil and gas field,” he says. “The bulk is routine flaring.” And “routine flaring” isn’t done for safety; it’s done solely to […]
States Take Action to Curb Oil Industry’s Most Glaring Problem

Latest Articles
Spotlight Cast By Cold Weather On Renewables Reveals Resiliency, Faster Recovery
Ward County, TX, USA May 27, 2018: Wind speed turbine spinning with solar panels collecting sun ... All energy sources have failed...
In Celebration of Black History Month
February serves as a symbolic month of reflection and acknowledgement of the impacts, contributions and successes of Black Americans in all spaces -...
EU takes Germany to court for breaching environment laws
At issue is the country's failure to implement the Flora-Fauna-Habitat Directive which focuses on the conservation of natural areas, wildlife and plants ....
Greta Thunberg’s parents went green to ‘save’ their daughter
Who is Greta Thunberg? 00:00 00:0001:53GO LIVE Facebook Twitter Email Embed SpeedNormal Autoplay Copy and paste to share this video Copy and paste...
USC Will Divest From Fossil Fuels
Click here to view original web page at USC Will Divest From Fossil Fuels
The University of Southern California Board of Trustees’ Investment Committee voted...
How produce delivered by mail could help both people and nature
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of change in our food systems. As restaurants, hotels, schools, and more were forced to close...