Methane hydrate offshore is tempting, perilous natural gas

It’s called fire ice: methane hydrate, the natural gas lying off South Carolina, the fuel widely acknowledged to be driving a campaign to open the deep ocean offshore to oil and natural gas exploration.The volatility of the gas – more than any conventional seismic testing or exploratory drilling – really frightens conservationists and some scientists. This stuff could be a bomb waiting to go off. “If we’re going after it, we’d better be careful,” said Richard Charter, senior fellow at the Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit ocean conservation advocate. Full Story.