Texas A&M University oceanography professor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high."
"We saw them approach a million times above background concentrations" in some areas, Kessler said.
The scientists were looking for signs that the methane gas had depleted levels of oxygen dissolved in the water needed to sustain marine life.
Kessler said oxygen depletions have not reached a critical level yet, but the oil is still spilling into the Gulf, now at a rate of as much as 60,000 barrels a day, according to U.S. government estimates.
"What is it going to look like two months down the road, six months down the road, two years down the road?" he asked.
For the Gulf Residents, I am sorry I have to drive a car and use gasoline.
I hope that this Administration will help us to get affordable electric or other mass transit that is powered by renewable energy soon.
Especially when we learn that we could have had Electric vehicles in the early 1900's.
At about the time Ford Motor Co. was founded in 1903, Edison had made inroads with battery technology and started offering nickel-iron batteries for several uses, including automobiles. Later that year, he announced plans to convert four large touring cars to electric power (using his own batteries, of course), a plan that reeks of a publicity stunt to sell batteries but was enough to get him listed in the Standard Catalog. And though he prodded Ford into producing gasoline cars, he was soon denouncing them:
"Electricity is the thing. There are no whirring and grinding gears with their numerous levers to confuse. There is not that almost terrifying uncertain throb and whirr of the powerful combustion engine. There is no water-circulating system to get out of order - no dangerous and evil-smelling gasoline and no noise."
Even now, we find we could have had electric as late as the 1990's but that version of the Electric Vehicle was killed.
We must have the choice for affordable electric cars to stop this from happening ever again, and to put the need for oil away for good.
Sign the Gulf Oil Spill Electric Car Credit petition here |
