A friend of mine was a big deal with a pipeline company. They had a station with a turbine so they could burn crude oil right off the line.

We were traveling from west Texas to Dallas one night and he said he wanted to show me something. It would mean a detour but it would be worth it.

It was night and eventually on the horizon you could see a finger of light pointed to the sky. When we got there it was the exhaust port of the turbine. It was pointed up to let the heat go somewhere besides where a person would be.

It was weird looking from a distance. Total darkness except for the tower of light. Up close it was a tower of flame and ear splitting noise.

He said they only used it when oil prices were lower than the cost of electricity.