Why is the Gulf of Mexico on fire?
HARROWING footage showed flames rising from the water in the Gulf of Mexico on July 2. The shocking video went viral on social media as folks dubbed it the "eye of fire". According to Mexico's state-owned Pemex company, a gas leak from an underwater pipeline sparked a blaze and caused the Yucatan peninsula to "catch fire." According to the oil company, the fire occurred roughly 150 yards from a drilling platform in the Yucatan peninsula. The shocking video showed what appeared to be the ocean's surface boiling with bright orange flames underwater. Pemex reported a leak at 5:15am on July 2 in the submarine pipeline near its Ku-Maloob-Zaaps Ku-C satellite platform in the Campeche Sound. 4 A shocking video showed the Yucatan peninsula 'catch fire' on July 2 Credit: BNO News  Ku Maloob Zaap is Pemex's biggest crude oil producer, accounting for more than 40 percent of its nearly 1.7million barrels of daily output. Pemex said the fire took more than five hours to extinguish. Ku Maloob-Zaap is located just up from the southern rim of the Gulf of Mexico. The state oil company began to close the interconnection valves in the pipeline, extinguishing the fire and the gas emanation to control the leak by 10.45am, more than five hours later. In a statement, Greenpeace Mexicos Gustavo Ampugnani said that these are the risks we face on a daily basis and which call for a change in the energy model, as we have demanded.  4 The underwater fire was caused by a gas pipeline leak Credit: BNO News  Angel Carrizales - the head of Mexico's oil safety regulator ASEA - wrote on Twitter that the incident "did not generate any spill." However, he did not explain what was burning on the water's surface. The report also adds that workers used nitrogen to bring the fire under control. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has championed legislation to address the climate crisis, shared the video of the "eye of fire," criticizing lawmakers who opposed her Green New Deal proposal. "Shout out to all the legislators going out on dinner dates with Exxon lobbyists so they can say a Green New Deal is too expensive," she tweeted with a thumbs-up emoji. 4 US lawmakers chimed in on the shocking clip Credit: BNO News  Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also retweeted the video, and commented: "Please do not tell me that ending our dependency on fossil fuels is too radical  THIS is radical." New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted, " Its not a movie trailer. Its not a natural disaster, either. Its what happens when we let corporate greed destroy our planet." "The ocean is literally on fire. But yeah, sure -- we can't afford climate action," California Governor Gavin Newsom said.