News Bites: Natural gas fuels Super Bowl controversy, campus Republicans mock global warming, and more

“An active ingredient in the chemical dispersants pumped deep into the Gulf of Mexico after BP’s oil spill didn’t break down but remained for several months in a deep layer of oil and gas, according to a study published Wednesday,” the news service reports.

“The study provides the first data about what happened to the 800,000 gallons of dispersants that were pumped into the oil and gas that gushed a mile below the surface from the broken BP well. Additional studies are under way to find out if there were toxic effects from the dispersants in the deep water.”

On campus: the Iowa State Daily reports that campus conservatives are using snow to mock claims of global warming.

“Snowballs whizzed across Central Campus on Tuesday as students in the ISU Republicans club hosted the Global Warming Snowball Fight,” the paper reports.

The piece adds: ” ‘It’s a good way to mock a theory most conservatives don’t believe in. Most conservatives don’t believe in man-made global warming, so it’s just a good way to come out and have fun, and it just puts a political spin on it,’ said Logan Pals, chairman of ISU Republicans and senior in industrial engineering.”

(Climate scientists note that snowfall does not undercut evidence of human-induced climate change, which E2 explored here and here.)

More from The Wall Street Journal: The paper got an early look at Exxon’s big energy outlook, due out later on Thursday.

“In Exxon Mobil Corp.’s crystal ball, the future of natural gas is looking increasingly rosy,” the paper reports.

“Global demand for natural gas, commonly used for heating homes and businesses and for generating electricity, will increase 2% a year through 2030, the Texas oil giant says, raising the 1.8% estimate it made last year.”

It notes that oil will remain the top world energy source in 2030, but gas will have moved ahead of coal to become the second-largest by then.