Wrath of the Methane God

While some are eager to blame capitalists...

World Socialist: A wave of mine disasters

The coincidence of so many mine and well disasters makes one wonder, what is going on beneath with the "god of methane" ("god" as place holder for a yet to be proven explanation)...

The world-wide rash of explosions began on April 5 with the Massey mine disaster in Montcoal West Virginia, leaving 29 dead. And only this week has the methane gas cleared up enough to allow investigators to enter...

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (June 2): Re-entry into West Virginia mine planned for today

Then came the big one in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving 11 dead and the destruction of an ecosystem and regional economy...

BBC (April 20): Oil workers describe methane explosion on Gulf rig

And throughout the month of May...

Voice of Russia (May 9): [66 killed] in methane explosion in mine in the Kemerovo region

Channel News Asia (May 14): China coal mine gas blast kills 21

Al Jazeera (May 18): Blast traps miners in Turkey

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The "god of methane" is indeed something to fear...

Armaggeddon Online: Methane Explosion

At the ocean floor lies a sleeping monster, one that millions of years ago devastated the Earth, causing a mass-extinction, and today could be released again. It is silent, invisible and deadly, and contains double the energy of the entire world's fossil fuels combined. It is the frozen methane reserves at the bottom of the sea; capable of causing massive rises in global temperatures and igniting the atmosphere...

If a large proportion of the gas were released the effects would be devastating. If hundreds of thousands of trillions of tons were released into the atmosphere, the rate global warming would skyrocket. Methane is 20 times more powerful a gas at raising global temperatures than carbon dioxide, so a release of a vast quantity of gas would cause huge temperature rises around the world. If temperatures rose by the 13 degrees Fahrenheit they did during the last release, ice caps would start to melt flooding large areas of the Earth. Worse, the gas would be ignited by lightning, leaving huge fires over areas of land, with coastal areas at especially great risk of destruction. Many cities that escaped the rising sea levels would not be spared the fire.

So then, we should be extremely cautious when dealing with this substance, particularly in its hydrate form...

Gaurdian: Did Deepwater methane hydrates cause the BP Gulf explosion?

Bloomberg: Japan Mines `Flammable Ice,' Flirts With Environmental Disaster

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Finally, on another anomaly coming from the great beneath...

National Geographic: Electric Ash Found in Iceland Plume Miles From Volcano