Environmental Hazards from Offshore Methane Hydrate Operations presents the first treatment of the legal issues facing the future of offshore methane hydrates, perhaps one of the largest known potential sources of fresh water and energy in the world today, taking into account both proprietary interests and environmental hazards. Although methane hydrates are not recent discoveries, it is only now that their extraction and production are becoming commercially feasible as a major new energy source. They are present offshore in almost every coastal state, and their economic potential...