These are some little tidbits but I always wondered why we didn't bother using the natural gas or methane hydrate that caused the deepwater explosion.
Did Deepwater Methane Hydrates Cause the BP Gulf Explosion? | SolveClimate.com
Methane Hydrates, the fuel of the future? - SciForums.com
Methane gas: An unconventional energy resource
http://gltrs.grc.nasa.gov/reports/20...007-214816.pdf
http://drs.nio.org/drs/bitstream/226...dies_9_111.pdf
The extraction is actually not very complex, heat or small changes in pressure, its all over the ocean floor in the Gulf and the cause of the deepwater explosions.
Seems to me maybe we should shift our focus and learn from blowing up a rig and use the fuel thats already out of the crust and on the floor. Instead of continuing to punch holes in it.
Methanol, CNG or synth gas fuels all are workable, just nobody seems to want to redevelope things we used during war time in WWII.
As for liabilities because of BPs stupidity the gulf will be more or less permanently ruined, crude has good numbers of heavies, arsenic, mercury and other goodies in it that will never go away, generations will suffer if they eat fish from anywhere near the spill location.
BP should be made to pay by causing a situation to lower oil prices, reopening the thousands of capped wells out west, using methane and CNG that just get burned off to this day and offering more CNG/gasoline hybred cars would be a start.
Cheers
Ryan