Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the Gulf of Mexico are putting commercial fishing and marine life at risk, researchers warn.

Sampling the air over offshore oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico suggests the federal government's calculations of methane emissions are too low.

"The best-case scenario is that we have rapid and widespread reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the near term, the next 20 years. The corals in the Gulf of Mexico are hardy."

"The bottom line is that geological conditions led to a decision to use a specialized cement that failed. This... was a root cause of the ultimate blowout."