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WC#435 - Oil and Gas

Gallery: Weekly ChallengePosted June 10, 2010277 views7 comments

I took this a few days ago. While the Gulf Disaster shows up on the news every day, the environmental destruction of the western US by the gas and oil extraction companies is largely hidden. This is what large areas of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico look like from high above. This has to wreak havoc on the ecosystems and fauna that have been inundated with drilling pads. Pictures like this as well as the tragedy unfolding in the gulf remind me that something has to change in this country. And yes, I'm painfully aware that I was being kept aloft by hydrocarbons. Please excuse the glare and the poor quality of the photo taken through a dirty windshield.

Canon G11, 1/400 F8 ISO200

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by mark cillo on June 11, 2010 at 12:30 AM

Looks like capillary beds in a micrograph of human tissue. Great environmental capture, makes me think. What is next?

Registered on July 27, 2008, 143 Posts, 1483 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Fischer on June 11, 2010 at 8:55 AM

My only question is how did you know these where oil well pads. Looks like rural California house pads!!!! Probably not much different--still disturbs and that's the problem. The solution is harder isn't it.
the fisch

Registered on July 28, 2008, 155 Posts, 874 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Ross on June 11, 2010 at 4:31 PM

They are definately gas and oil pads. I fly over these remote areas everyday and have been watching them grow year after year. Which is my point - the majority of the population doesn't know that vast areas of the western US have been decimated like this. Imagine being an animal that has historically migrated through these areas..........Here's another shot taken in Northern New Mexico.

Registered on September 3, 2008, 12 Posts, 13 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Martin on June 11, 2010 at 10:24 PM

Nice shot that shows the landscape level impact of this activity. I've "flown" around in Google Earth looking for these and by using the history tool have found how amazingly quick they can be constructed.

Registered on December 6, 2005, 200 Posts, 2209 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on June 12, 2010 at 11:27 AM

Yep, shots like this are defintiely worth a thousand words. I agree with Mark, a great enviro capture!