New Mexico oil producer Franklin Mountain Energy was recently recognized for reducing light pollution at three of their operating sites in the New Mexico Permian Basin. DarkSky International, a group that focuses on reducing light pollution, applauded their efforts. These three sites are the first oil and gas sites in the world to receive a dark sky certification. There are a number of ways to become dark sky compliant. You can learn about them here.
Conserving dark skies by reducing light pollution is important. Artificial lighting can impair natural ecosystems, more specifically those of nocturnal animals. Light pollution disrupts the natural behaviors and breeding cycles of various species. This includes birds and insects that rely on natural light patterns (Raap et al., 2015). The increase in light pollution by over 49% since 1992, illustrates the escalating threat to natural ecosystems (Waseth et al.,2024). Light pollution also poses considerable health risks to humans. Research shows that exposure to artificial light can lead to disruptions in sleep patterns and reduce melatonin production—the hormone that is crucial for sleep regulation (Chong et al., 2024).
Organizations like Dark Sky International, have begun to advocate for reduction and prevention of light pollution. Through public awareness campaigns, seeking legal protections, technical treatments, and other actions, the establishment of Dark Sky Reserves (DSR) have become a preventative measure against light pollution. The establishment of DSR’s requires companies and residents to reduce or eliminate light pollution.
While conserving dark skies is a critical consideration in reducing negative impacts to human health and natural ecosystems, applauding a company like Franklin Mountain Energy for their dark sky certification distracts from not only their history of violating New Mexico’s environmental rules and regulations, it distracts from the toxic reality of the oil and gas industry as a whole. Franklin Mountain Energy (FME) was inspected by federal officials last year. Their investigations showed violations of clean air standards at more than half of the FME facilities that were inspected. In 2023, they were fined $400k for emissions violations. You can learn more here, here, and here.
Reducing light pollution is important, but it’s also self-serving. By reducing their light pollution with dark sky principles, oil and gas companies can significantly reduce their utility bills (Hao et al., 2024). A more energy cost efficient operation impacts their bottom line in a positive way. It doesn’t stop here. By receiving this certification, despite violating New Mexico’s regulations, it portrays oil and gas operators as something they are not: that is, companies that are serious about reducing their environmental impact.
We can’t center conservation and produce oil and gas. Dark sky compliance doesn’t reduce air pollutants that humans and other species are exposed to. It doesn’t reduce habitat fragmentation from the roads and infrastructure needed to produce oil and gas. The way to do this is to stop issuing new permits to oil and gas companies. This is the cheapest and most efficient way to conserve our night sky. It literally costs us nothing.
References:
Raap, T., Pinxten, R., & Eens, M. (2015). Light pollution disrupts sleep in free-living animals. Scientific Reports, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13557
Wåseth, H., Safi, J., Nielsen, T., Bayr, U., Johansen, N., Fjeldaas, E., … & Christensen, T. (2024). Embedding sustainability into the design of street lighting. Iop Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science, 1320(1), 012016. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1320/1/012016
Chong, H., Chen, Q., & Zhang, X. (2024). Risk assessment system and prevention measures for light pollution. Environment Resource and Ecology Journal, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.23977/erej.2024.080104
Hao, Y., Wang, P., Zhang, Z., Xu, Z., & Jia, D. (2024). A review of the characteristics of light pollution: assessment technique, policy, and legislation. Energies, 17(11), 2750. https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112750
