Dr. Ernest Moritz worked on the methane hydrates with Japan. Methane MUST BE CONTAINED. No exceptions.

Vast amounts of methane hydrate (click here) are buried in sediment deposits on the continental slopes. The total global amount of methane carbon bound up in these hydrate deposits is in the order of 1000 to 5000 gigatonnes – i.e. about 100 to 500 times more carbon than is released annually into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas).

Methane is far more dangerous than carbon dioxide and there is little focus on controlling it. Methane hydrates should be a focus of evaluation now. The oceans are warming as evidence by the mass extinction event of the corals globally. The methane hydrates can serve to be a burgeoning climate danger. Depending on the latitude, I am sure some have already released, however, deep ocean is a fairly SAFE place for methane hydrates to exist. The surface oceans are where most climate crisis events are happening. I simply don't see ocean methane hydrates as a reasonable source of energy. They need to remain frozen without exception. Japan has other options. 

August 1, 2017

By Zack Colman

While hydrate resources (click here) look like an enormous boon to energy-starved nations like Japan, all that carbon and methane has climate scientists and advocates concerned.

Turning big, (click here) frozen deposits of methane buried under the seafloor into fuel for our cars and homes is coming closer to reality. As Japan, China and to a lesser extent the U.S. try to tap these abundant resources, important questions are arising about just how much they may contribute to climate change. The answers seem to range widely, depending on who is talking.

This issue has quickly risen because Japan conducted its second production test of these deposits, known as methane hydrates, in May. China soon followed with its first attempt to do the same. The news caught natural resource experts off guard because most of them thought it would still be years before nations tried to turn these icy gases into commercial products.

Production might still be a decade or more away in the U.S., which has been a quiet partner with Japan and China, although the Department of Energy has begun discussions with Alaska and Japanese interests about performing an extended production test in Alaska’s North Slope. The negotiations are considered “delicate,” says Tim Collett, a U.S. Geological Survey research geologist. Hydrates exist in the already commercialized Gulf of Mexico, too. If fully developed, hydrates around the globe could provide as much energy worldwide as natural gas does today....

August 1, 2017
By Mark Hand

A federal appeals court (click here) ruled late Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency must enforce Obama-era restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from the oil and gas industry.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit struck down the EPA’s attempt to suspend methane restrictions for the sector, formally vacating the agency’s 90-day stay of key provisions of New Source Performance Standards. The rule is now in effect....