E2-Wire

Greens to Holder: Don’t forget the gas when punishing BP

by Ben Geman - 08/25/10 7:32 PM ET

The letter states that when gas is added to the 4.1 million barrels of oil that spewed into the Gulf, the total amount of petroleum leaps to the equivalent of more than 6 million barrels.

The groups say that gases dissolve before they reach the surface and can kill or cause neurological damage to fish. “Furthermore, the microbes degrading hydrocarbon gases compete for nutrients (like oxygen) with those attacking oil and could significantly affect the overall degradation process,” they write.

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