Oil Field Flares and Lights Creeping Closer to the Famed McDonald Observatory

The University of Texas’ McDonald Observatory in the Davis Mountains in West Texas is one of the darkest spots in the continental United States. Lights from the Permian Basin oilfield to the north, the center of U.S. oil and gas activity, are creeping closer to the 85-year-old observatory, home to one of the world’s largest optical instruments. The sate’s oil and gas regulator issued nearly 11,000 drilling permits in the Permian Basin in 2014.