Oil Development Flares up on the Pawnee

Niobrara Shale first yielded significant oil (and gas) not far from this giant field in northeastern Colorado, triggering an oil boom the likes of which I've not seen in my lifetime.

I would guess there are at least 100 new oil wells flaring natural gas near Grover, CO now, if not more. What was once a dark sky now glows with the burning of natural gas that has no place to go.

Shot Notes: I really need to get back out here for the first hour before and after darkness to get some more images of the flares, it's quite the sight to see them all flaring. For this one I tried a bit of experimentation with HDR and ended up using a 9-frame one generated in SNS. I hope to document the oil development as it comes to our area, this image adds to that series.

OilDevelopmentIndustrialIndustryGasBoomNightHDRCOColoradoNiobrara ShaleShaleDocumentaryLandscapeDarkEveningFlareOil WellOilfieldGas FlarePawneeCentral Shortgrass PrairieNikonD700CLFF