Listening to a Continent Sing

Thanks to Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of the Interior James Watt, a local biologist told us, the northern end of the refuge is smothered with this sound, 24/7, 365 days a year. Of what value, I must wonder, is the oil taken from this pristine location? I sweep my eyes beyond the despoiled acres immediately around the pump to the marshes and lakes beyond, but I hear nothing beyond the pump.

Background

Nothing but echoes and reverberations of this pump.

Photo by Don Kroodsma