I think you're misreading my comment. It's not to say that it's okay for BP to spill oil, it's that all things considered, the environmental impact of a tank of gas (extracted using current methods) is much less than what this guy is doing. Imagine the alternative: rather than every american filling up at the gas pump, they're dredging up ponds/ditches for methane. How much environmental impact would that cause? Is that better than the occasional oil spill we get?