[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 155 (Friday, November 7, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12004-S12006]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. AKAKA (for himself, Mr. Craig, and Ms. Landrieu):
  S. 1418. A bill to promote the research, identification, assessment, 
exploration, and development of methane hydrate resources, and for 
other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.


        the methane hydrate research and development act of 1997

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, on behalf of myself and Senators Craig and 
Landrieu, I am introducing the Methane Hydrate Research and Development 
Act of 1997.
  Methane hydrate is a methane-bearing, ice-like substance that occurs 
in abundance in marine sediments. It is a crystalline solid of methane 
molecules surrounded by a structure of water molecules.
  Methane hydrates are stable at moderately high pressures and low 
temperatures and contain large quantities of methane. One unit volume 
of methane hydrate contains more than 160 volumes of methane at 
standard temperature and pressure.
  Methane hydrates are found in deep ocean sediments. Significant 
quantities are also found in the permafrost of Alaska, Canada, and 
Siberia.
  Despite their potential as an energy resource, methane hydrates have 
not received the attention they deserve. We are only beginning to 
understand the magnitude of this potential resource. The amount of 
methane sequestered in gas hydrates is enormous. Worldwide estimates 
range from 100,000 trillion cubic feet to 270 million trillion cubic 
feet. Locations of known methane hydrate deposits within the Untied 
States include the Arctic, the seabed adjacent to northern California, 
the Gulf of Mexico, and the Eastern Seaboard.
  A conservative estimate of deposits under U.S. jurisdiction is 2,700 
trillion cubic feet to seven million trillion cubic feet of gas. A 
recent U.S. Geological Survey analysis indicates the presence of over 
500 trillion cubic feet of methane at the Black Ridge site off the 
coast of Carolinas alone. When you consider that current U.S. 
consumption is less than 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas per 
year, you begin to appreciate the magnitude of this energy resource.
  The U.S. energy outlook is perilous at best. Our dependence on 
imported oil is steadily increasing. Soon we will import over 60 
percent of the oil we consume. Air pollution is a persistent problem. 
We are spending enormous resources to improve air quality. Global 
climate change poses a looming challenge. With these concerns in mind, 
it is easy to recognize the importance of methane hydrates.
  Methane hydrates are a strategic resource because they contain huge 
amounts of methane in a concentrated form. Extracted methane from 
hydrates represents an extraordinarily large energy resource and 
petrochemical feedstock. Methane is less polluting than other 
hydrocarbons because of its higher hydrogen-to-carbon ratio. Given the 
concerns about global climate change, a transition to methane as an 
energy resource is an attractive solution.
  The U.S. is not doing enough to explore this viable energy source. 
Other countries, primarily Japan and India, have aggressive programs to 
develop methane hydrates. Japan has launched an exploration project for 
methane hydrates in its surrounding waters. The Japanese National Oil 
Corporation is conducting a seismic survey off Hokkaido Island and will 
drill test wells in two locations in 1999. Commercial production is 
planned for 2010. About six trillion cubic meters of methane hydrates 
can be found in the seabed near Japan. Recovery of one-tenth of this 
reserve could yield about 100 years supply of natural gas for Japan.
  As part of its plan to boost natural gas resources, the Oil Industry 
Development Board of India has earmarked $56 million for a program of 
methane hydrates research and development. We cannot be left behind 
these and other nations in the race to develop this important energy 
resource.
  Science News recently published an article summarizing the hopes and 
hazards associated with methane hydrates. Mr. President, I ask 
unanimous consent that a copy of this article be printed in the Record.
  This is an exciting area of research and of new knowledge. It has an 
enormous payoff, not only for our energy security, but also for the 
global environment.
  My bill establishes a small research and development program with the 
potential for major payback. It would direct the Department of Energy 
to conduct research and development in collaboration with the Naval 
Research Laboratory and the U.S. Geological Survey. The Secretary of 
Energy would also consult with other Federal and State agencies, 
industry, and academia. It directs the Department to conduct research 
on, and identify, explore, assess, and develop methane hydrate 
resources as a source of energy. It also directs the Department to 
develop technologies needed to develop methane resources in an 
environmentally sound manner. It provides for research to develop safe 
means of transportation and storage of methane produced from methane 
hydrates. To alleviate the concerns related to releases of methane, the 
legislation directs the Department to undertake research to assess and 
mitigate hydrate degassing, both natural and that associated with 
commercial development. It requires the Department to develop 
technologies to reduce the risk of drilling through the gas hydrates. 
And finally, it provides for the training of scientists and engineers 
that would be needed for this new and exciting field on endeavor.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 1418

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Methane Hydrate Research and 
     Development Act of 1997''.

     SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

       In this Act:
       (1) Contract.--The term ``contract'' means a procurement 
     contract within the meaning of 6303 of title 31, United 
     States Code.
       (2) Cooperative agreement.--The term ``cooperative 
     agreement'' means a cooperative agreement within the meaning 
     of section 6305 of title 31, United States Code.

[[Page S12005]]

       (3) Grant.--The term ``grant'' means a grant agreement 
     within the meaning of section 6304 of title 31, United States 
     Code.
       (4) Methane hydrate.--The term ``methane hydrate'' means a 
     methane clathrate that--
       (A) is in the form of a methane-water ice-like crystalline 
     material; and
       (B) is stable and occurs naturally in deep-ocean and 
     permafrost areas.
       (5) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Energy.
       (6) Secretary of Defense.--The term ``Secretary of 
     Defense'' means the Secretary of Defense, acting through the 
     Secretary of the Navy.
       (7) Secretary of the Interior.--The term ``Secretary of the 
     Interior'' means the Secretary of the Interior, acting 
     through the Director of the United States Geological Survey.

     SEC. 3. METHANE HYDRATE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM.

       (a) In General.--
       (1) Commencement of program.--Not later than 180 days after 
     the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in 
     consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 
     of the Interior, shall commence a program of methane hydrate 
     research and development.
       (2) Designations.--The Secretary, Secretary of Defense, and 
     Secretary of the Interior shall designate individuals to 
     implement this Act.
       (3) Meetings.--The individuals designated under paragraph 
     (2) shall meet not less frequently than every 120 days to 
     review the progress of the program under paragraph (1) and 
     make recommendations on future activities.
       (b) Grants, Contracts, and Cooperative Agreements.--
       (1) Assistance and coordination.--The Secretary may award 
     grants or contracts to, or enter into cooperative agreements 
     with, universities and industrial enterprises to--
       (A) conduct basic and applied research to identify, 
     explore, assess, and develop methane hydrate as a source of 
     energy;
       (B) assist in developing technologies required for 
     efficient and environmentally sound development of methane 
     hydrate resources;
       (C) undertake research programs to provide safe means of 
     transport and storage of methane produced from methane 
     hydrates;
       (D) promote education and training in methane hydrate 
     resources research and resource development;
       (E) conduct basic and applied research to assess and 
     mitigate the environmental impacts of hydrate degassing, both 
     natural and that associated with commercial development; and
       (F) develop technologies to reduce the risks of drilling 
     through methane hydrates.
       (2) Consultation.--The Secretary may establish an advisory 
     panel consisting of experts from industry, academia, and 
     Federal agencies to advise the Secretary on potential 
     applications of methane hydrate and assist in developing 
     recommendations and priorities for the methane hydrate 
     research and development program carried out under this 
     section.
       (c) Limitations.--
       (1) Administrative expenses.--Not more than 5 percent of 
     the amount made available to carry out this section for a 
     fiscal year may be used by the Secretary for expenses 
     associated with the administration of the program subsection 
     (a)(1).
       (2) Construction costs.--None of the funds made available 
     to carry out this section may be used for the construction of 
     a new building or the acquisition, expansion, remodeling, or 
     alteration of an existing building (including site grading 
     and improvement and architect fees.)
       (d) Responsibilities of the Secretary.--In carrying out 
     subsection (b)(1), the Secretary shall--
       (1) facilitate and develop partnerships among government, 
     industry, and academia to research, identify, assess, and 
     explore methane hydrate resources;
       (2) undertake programs to develop basic information 
     necessary for promoting long-term interest in methane hydrate 
     resources as an energy source;
       (3) ensure that the data and information developed through 
     the program are accessible and widely disseminated as needed 
     and appropriate;
       (4) promote cooperation among agencies that are developing 
     technologies that may hold promise for methane hydrate 
     resource development; and
       (5) report annually to Congress on accomplishments under 
     this Act.

     SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
     necessary to carry out this Act.
                                  ____


            [From the Science News, Vol. 150, Nov. 9, 1996]

                     The Mother Lode of Natural Gas

                        (By Richard McNastersky)

       For kicks, oceanographer William P. Dillon likes to 
     surprise visitors to his lab by taking ordinary-looking ice 
     balls and setting them on fire.
       ``They're easy to light. You just put a match to them and 
     they will go,'' says Dillon, a researcher with the U.S. 
     Geological Survey (USGS) in Woods Hole, Mass.
       If the truth be told, this is not typical ice. The prop in 
     Dillon's show is a curious and poorly known structure called 
     methane hydrate. Unlike ordinary water ice, methane hydrate 
     consists of single molecules of natural gas trapped within 
     crystalline cages formed by frozen water molecules. Although 
     chemists first discovered gas hydrates in the early part of 
     the 19th century, geoscientists have only recently started 
     documenting their existence in underground deposits and 
     exploring their importance as potential fuel.
       Late last year a team of oceanographers conducted the most 
     in-depth investigation of methane hydrates to date by 
     drilling into an extensive accumulation beneath the seabed 
     off the coast of the southeastern United States. The results 
     of this research, which are now beginning to appear in the 
     scientific literature, seem to bolster extremely sketchy 
     estimates made years ago about the vastness of the hydrate 
     resource.
       ``It turns out there is a tremendous amount of gas down 
     there,'' says Charles Paull, a marine geologist at the 
     University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a leader of 
     the recent drilling expedition. ``It shores up the fact that 
     these are large reserves and makes it increasingly important 
     that they get assessed in terms of whether they are energy-
     producing deposits or not.''
       At the same time, scientists wonder whether this resource 
     also has a dark side. ``There have been extremely rapid 
     changes in climate in the past. Some think that these were 
     caused by methane released from methane hydrate,'' says 
     Dillon.
       Despite their potential importance, methane hydrates have 
     evaded scientific scrutiny until now, largely because they 
     are extremely difficult to study. They exist only where high 
     pressures and low temperatures squeeze water and methane into 
     a solid form.
       Most known deposits of methane hydrate lie below the 
     seafloor in regions that slope from the continents to the 
     deep ocean basins thousands of meters underwater. Marine 
     geologists have tentatively identified deposits off the 
     coasts of Costa Rica, New Jersey, Oregon, Japan, India, and 
     hundreds of other sites around the globe. Petroleum companies 
     have also encountered hydrates while drilling through Arctic 
     pernafrost in Siberia, Alaska, and Canada.
       Like vampires, hydrates disintegrate quickly if pulled from 
     their dark lair. When researchers on the recent drilling 
     expedition hauled up cores of sediment from the ocean floor, 
     the drastic reduction in pressure caused much of the hydrate 
     to melt before it even reached the ship. Without unusual 
     precautions, any remaining hydrate fizzed away when the 
     scientists cut open the core.
       ``Gas hydrates have largely escaped traditional geologic 
     observation because gas hydrates and humans are sort of 
     incompatible. The gas hydrates decompose under the conditions 
     [in which] people traditionally analyze cores. Conversely, 
     humans have no experience in operating in the conditions 
     where gas hydrates are stable. We die under the conditions of 
     gas hydrate stability,'' says Paull.
       Oceanographers first drilled through methane hydrates 
     unintentionally, on an expedition in 1970. Although that 
     encounter was uneventful, research drilling cruises purposely 
     avoided suspected hydrate deposits for 2 decades afterward, 
     fearing they might hit an overpressureized pocket of gas, 
     which could blast away the drilling equipment. Concerns over 
     pressurized gas gradually diminished, and mounting scientific 
     curiosity emboldened researchers to try boring through more 
     hydrate fields. Starting in 1992, the International Ocean 
     Drilling Program (ODP) intentionally breached hydrate 
     deposits several times without incident.
       On the recent expedition, Paull and his colleagues drilled 
     at three sites along the Blake Ridge, a large, submerged 
     promontory 330 kilometers off the southeast coast of the 
     United States. Working in water depths of 2,800 meters, the 
     researchers penetrated 700 meters below the seafloor with 
     a hollow drill bit that cuts away a core of sediment the 
     diameter of a soda can.
       The investigators had to take special precautions to 
     prevent losing methane-hydrate during the 10 minutes it too 
     to haul fresh sections of core up from the ocean bottom. At 
     various depths, they sealed small bits of core in pressurized 
     barrels, thereby containing the gas until the core reached 
     shipboard laboratories. These samples provided the first 
     direct measurements of how much methane-hydrate exists at 
     different depths beneath the seafloor.
       ``The amount of hydrate down there is much higher than has 
     previously been estimated says Paull. ``It was not uncommon 
     to go from 10 liters up to 30 liters of gas per liter of 
     sediment.''
       The researchers also measured, for the first time, large 
     amounts of free gas trapped beneath the frozen hydra-
     deposits. The volume of gas was far more than expected, 
     exceeding even the amount within the frozen layer, says 
     Paull.
       Although the exact origin of hydrate remains unknown, Paull 
     and others suspect that bacteria within the sediment consume 
     rich organic material and generate methane gas. At a certain 
     depth beneath the seafloor, the low temperatures and high 
     pressures ensnare the gas within the frozen hydrate 
     structures. Methane below the hydrate layer remains in 
     gaseous form because the temperatures there are too high to 
     support freezing.
       Conventional deposits of methane, a natural gas, form 
     through a different process, when seafloor sediments are 
     buried far deeper. Exposed to much higher temperatures, the 
     organic material the sediments simmers until it transforms 
     into petroleum and eventually methane.

[[Page S12006]]

       Nearly a decade ago, several researchers independently 
     tried to estimate how much methane exists in hydrate 
     deposits. Because of the scarcity of direct hyro-measurements 
     at the time, the estimate rested on indirect seismic studies 
     which probe the ocean bottom sediments with blasts of sound 
     that reflect off hidden layers.
       These studies suggested that global hydrate deposits 
     contain approximately 10,000 gigatons, or 10 tons, of carbon. 
     That number represents double the combined amount in all 
     reserves of coal, oil, and conventional natural gas.
       The newly emerging evidence, supports these rough 
     approximations, says Gordon J. MacDonald, one of the 
     scientists who made the calculations in the 1980s. ``All 
     these estimates are quite uncertain. But it remains 
     abundantly clear that methane hydrates contain the largest 
     store of carbon that we know about that is underground,'' 
     says MacDonald, who now directs the International Institute 
     for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria.
       In fact, hydrates may be more widespread than previously 
     thought. The recent ODP expedition found hydrates in regions 
     that lack the seismically reflective layers usually used to 
     identify potential deposits, the team reports in the Sept. 27 
     Science.
       ``Given their worldwide distribution and their very large 
     quantities, they make a very attractive energy source, 
     provided that one can bring the gas up at somewhere near 
     market price,'' MacDonald says. The cost of accessing 
     hydrates has served as a barrier in the past, but some 
     energy-hungry nations lacking conventional fossil fuels are 
     extremely interested in future use of hydrates.
       Japan plans to drill exploratory wells in the next few 
     years, first on land in Alaska and then in Japanese waters. 
     The Japanese National Oil Company is currently negotiating 
     with the U.S. and Canadian governments to conduct 
     experimental drilling of hydrate deposits near Prudhoe Bay, 
     Alaska in early 1998. They hope to have more success than the 
     nations and commercial companies that tried to extract frozen 
     methane in Canada, Alaska and Siberia during the 1970s and 
     1980s.
       In nature, methane hydrates are fickle molecules, liable to 
     melt whenever the pressure drops slightly or the temperature 
     creeps upward. Evidence of this instability pockmarks the 
     ocean floor along the Blake Ridge. Marine geologists have 
     identified numerous craters there that apparently formed when 
     hydrates melted, releasing methane gas.
       ``The Blake Ridge is a pressure cooker, over geological 
     time. The gas and fluids come up and blow thought the 
     sediments. We can see depressions 500 to 700 meters wide and 
     20 to 30 meters deep,'' says Dillon.
       In other cases, melting at the base of the hydrate layer 
     has destabilized seafloor slopes, leading to massive 
     submarine landslides. Researchers have suggested hydrate 
     weakness as a factor behind landslides off Alaska, the U.S. 
     Atlantic coast, British Columbia, Norway, and Africa, says 
     Keith A. Kvenvolden of the USGS in Menlo Park, Calif.
       Such inherent instability could spell problems for future 
     drilling platforms resting on top of hydrate-rich deposits. 
     If the collapses are large enough, they could also produce 
     the destructive waves called tsunamis that race across ocean 
     basins.
       Hydrates may exert their greatest impact through their 
     indirect links to climate. Because methane is a powerful 
     greenhouse gas--about 10 times as strong as carbon dioxide--
     massive melting of hydrates and the ensuing release of 
     methane gas could raise Earth's surface temperature.
       James P. Kennett of the University of California, Santa 
     Barbara has recently discovered intriguing evidence 
     implicating methane hydrates as an instigator of climate 
     change. Sediments off the California coast show signs that 
     carbon isotopic ratios in the ocean shifted quite 
     dramatically and quickly at several times during the last 
     70,000 years. Because methane has a distinctive isotopic 
     fingerprint that matches the shifts, Kennett suggests that 
     large volumes of methane must have poured into the ocean at 
     these times.
       In this theory, the methane came from hydrates that melted 
     when ocean waters warmed slightly. The liberation of so much 
     methane over a few decades would have caused widespread 
     warming that affected the entire globe. As supporting 
     evidence, Kennett notes that the ocean's isotopic shifts 
     indeed coincide with well-known Dansgaard-Oeschger episodes 
     when Earth's ice age climate went suddenly warm.
       ``Until now, [hydrates] haven't really entered into 
     discussions of climate change. They have been almost 
     completely ignored. Until the beginning of this year, I had 
     not even considered them. But I'm now convinced that they are 
     of great importance to the global environment and have been 
     for billions of years,'' says Kennett. He presented his 
     findings in September at a gas hydrate conference in Ghent, 
     Belgium.
       Kvenvolden has proposed a different mechanism that might 
     have released hydrates at the end of the last ice age. As the 
     great blanket of continental ice melted at that time, global 
     sea levels swelled by more than 90 meters, submerging many 
     Arctic regions where hydrate layers exist. The relatively 
     warm ocean water would have melted the hydrates, unleashing 
     tremendous amounts of methane into the atmosphere, Kvenvolden 
     believes.
       The same rationale could apply to the modern world. Sea 
     levels are currently rising slowly, at a rate of a few 
     centimeters per decade. Projections suggest that they will 
     rise even faster in the future because of the climatic 
     warming caused by greenhouse gas pollution. At the same time, 
     ocean temperatures are expected to creep upward.
       ``If you reason that hydrates were important in climate 
     change in the past, there is no reason they wouldn't be 
     important in the future,'' says Kvenvolden. Indeed, some 
     scientists speculate that melting methane hydrates could 
     greatly exacerbate global warming.
       For now, though, Kvenvolden and others remain unsure 
     exactly what role hydrates have played in past climate 
     changes. Lacking this knowledge, they say it is impossible to 
     predict how hydrates will behave in the future.
       A greater understanding of hydrates and their importance 
     will come as oceanographers tap deposits in other areas of 
     the world, testing whether the lessons learned on the Blake 
     Ridge apply elsewhere. Scientists are also creating synthetic 
     hydrates in the laboratory (SN:10/19/96, p. 252). By 
     squeezing methane and water in a pressurized apparatus, 
     Dillon and his colleagues can not only gauge how hydrates 
     weaken seafloor sediments but also improve seismic methods 
     for detecting hydrates.
       When the experiments are over, the remaining synthetic 
     hydrates could have other uses. ``I hadn't really thought of 
     it before, but you could try cooking with them'' says Dillon, 
     ``I wouldn't want to plan a major meal, but you could 
     probably scramble an egg on it.''
                                 ______