I am still not sure I can believe this**

Darvaz: The Door to Hell

I've always wondered/worried about the waste/consequences of the burn-off flares on oil rigs and refineries, but this seems grotesque.

Equate it to a few seemingly much more pressing AGW issues in the media.

I wonder if it counts to their Kyoto commitment? And which is better (relatively), the pure gas or the consequences of its combustion?

Surely it is not beyond the whit of man to pop a lid on and harvest this as a resource?

*via a link from a very surf-savvy Singapore Aunty. I had never heard of it until now.

**One slight concern is neither this entity, nor its location (Darvas) is picked up by Wikipedia