BP Oil Spill: Yet Another Threat Exists

While British Petroleum's (BP) CEO Tony Hayward sits before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, experts and environmentalists have yet another concern to add to the list from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill--methane gas.

Methane gas is the central component of natural gas; colorless, odorless and highly flammable. While the broken rig spews oil, it is also releasing methane gas. A Texas A&M oceanographer, John Kessler, has analyzed the oil coming from the spill. Most crude oil contains about 5 percent methane gas; this crude oil being pumped from the sea floor is 40 percent methane.

Scientists and ecologists are unsure just how the presence of so much methane may affect the ecosystems of the affected areas, declaring it a complex problem. For its part, BP is burning off "30 million cubic feet" of the gas daily (Nola). It is a usual practice of petroleum engineers to burn off methane from the crude oil before it is shipped to a refinery. Kessler has said of the current situation, "This is the most vigorous methane eruption in modern human history" (Nola).

Loss of lives, loss of jobs, and destruction of yet unknown proportions is what the region affected by the mammoth oil spill faces; BP boss Hayward sits in his suit, among other well-dressed individuals, deflecting questions and offering words of apology. House Energy and Commerce Committee members get the opportunity to express their anger and disdain about the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster.

Perhaps as distasteful as Hayward's empty words and reluctance to answer questions from the congressional body was the apology Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican issued to Hayward at the beginning of the hearing. The apology was for what the politician termed a "shakedown" of the oil conglomerate in the form of the $20 billion escrow fund the White House established on Wednesday, June 16, 2010.

The escrow fund, into which BP entered into an agreement to fund for payment of claims due to the Gulf of Mexico spill, will be administered by an independent arbitrator.

Later in the day Barton retracted his apology after Republican party leaders threatened to remove him from his position as ranking Republican on the committee.

Sources: Nola
The Washington Post