At night, the land around Carlsbad Caverns National Park lights up like a field of fireflies, with points of light winking across the southeastern deserts of New Mexico and far beyond the border into Texas. Amid this glittering landscape, the park appears isolated – a lone dark spot on the map.
This video created with the assistance of AI.
These lights are not a natural phenomenon, however, but the result of intensive oil and gas extraction across the region, known as the Permian Basin. Some of the lights glint from well pads and processing factories, but others burn bright orange from “gas flaring,” or the burning off of excess natural gas produced during the extraction process. Despite flaring being banned in New Mexico under most circumstances, well operators have continued the practice, leaking potent greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants into the surrounding air…