Each day for the past few weeks, Bob Skarphol has driven past an oil well near his North Dakota home, where a 30-foot flame shoots into the sky. The well's operator is burning the natural gas that's produced with the oil, even though there's a gas pipeline across the road from the well site, Skarphol, a Republican state legislator from Tioga, said in an interview. It's a common sight in North Dakota's Bakken Shale oil field, where about one-third of natural gas production is being burned in flares."It's frustrating to see that gas being flared and pay your utility bill in the winter time," Skarphol said.