The author of the linked article points out there are competing interpretations under which mass-energy is still conserved on the small scale.  It&#x27;s just that if you introduce the variable of local gravitational energy you wind up with a system of more variables than equations.  We don&#x27;t presently know of any laws that further constrain the system of equations to a unique solution unless we take local conservation of energy as an axiom... which of course prevents us from proving local conservation of energy.<p>However, we don&#x27;t have any observations that are inconsistent with local conservation of energy if gravitational energy is taken into account.