II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1215 

To amend the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 

to provide for the development of methane hydrate as a commercially 

viable source of energy. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2015 

Ms. MURKOWSKI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Methane Hydrate Research and Development 

Act of 2000 to provide for the development of methane 

hydrate as a commercially viable source of energy. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Methane Hydrate Re5 search and Development Amendments Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AMENDMENTS TO THE METHANE HYDRATE RE2 SEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACT OF 2000. 

3 (a) FINDINGS.—Section 2 of the Methane Hydrate 

4 Research and Development Act of 2000 (30 U.S.C. 2001) 

5 is amended— 

6 (1) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 

7 end; 

8 (2) in paragraph (5), by striking the period at 

9 the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

10 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

11 ‘‘(6) methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that 

12 may be exchanged between terrestrial methane hy13 drate reservoirs and the atmosphere by natural or 

14 anthropogenic processes; and 

15 ‘‘(7) the short- and long-term release of meth16 ane from arctic or marine reservoirs may have sig17 nificant environmental effects, including global cli18 mate change.’’. 

19 (b) METHANE HYDRATE RESEARCH AND DEVELOP20 MENT PROGRAM.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4 of the Methane 

22 Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 (30 

23 U.S.C. 2003) is amended by striking subsection (b) 

24 and inserting the following: 


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1 ‘‘(b) GRANTS, CONTRACTS, COOPERATIVE AGREE2 MENTS, INTERAGENCY FUNDS TRANSFER AGREEMENTS, 

3 AND FIELD WORK PROPOSALS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE AND COORDINATION.—In car5 rying out the program of methane hydrate research 

6 and development authorized by this section, the Sec7 retary may award grants to, or enter into contracts 

8 or cooperative agreements with, institutions that— 

9 ‘‘(A) conduct basic and applied research to 

10 identify, explore, assess, and develop methane 

11 hydrate as a commercially viable source of en12 ergy; 

13 ‘‘(B) identify and characterize methane hy14 drate resources using remote sensing and seis15 mic data, including the characterization of hy16 drate concentrations in marine reservoirs in the 

17 Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean Basin by 

18 the date that is 4 years after the date of enact19 ment of the Methane Hydrate Research and 

20 Development Amendments Act of 2015; 

21 ‘‘(C) develop technologies required for effi22 cient and environmentally sound development of 

23 methane hydrate resources; 

24 ‘‘(D) conduct basic and applied research to 

25 assess and mitigate the environmental impact of 


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1 hydrate degassing (including natural degassing 

2 and degassing associated with commercial de3 velopment); 

4 ‘‘(E) develop technologies to reduce the 

5 risks of drilling through methane hydrates; 

6 ‘‘(F) conduct exploratory drilling, well test7 ing, and production testing operations on per8 mafrost and nonpermafrost gas hydrates in 

9 support of the activities authorized by this 

10 paragraph, including— 

11 ‘‘(i) drilling of a test well and per12 forming a long-term hydrate production 

13 test on land in the United States Arctic re14 gion by the date that is 4 years after the 

15 date of enactment of the Methane Hydrate 

16 Research and Development Amendments 

17 Act of 2015; 

18 ‘‘(ii) drilling of a test well and per19 forming a long-term hydrate production 

20 test in a marine environment by the date 

21 that is 10 years after the date of enact22 ment of the Methane Hydrate Research 

23 and Development Amendments Act of 

24 2015; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) drilling a full-scale production 

2 test well at a location to be determined by 

3 the Secretary; or 

4 ‘‘(G) expand education and training pro5 grams in methane hydrate resource research 

6 and resource development through fellowships 

7 or other means for graduate education and 

8 training. 

9 ‘‘(2) ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING.—The Sec10 retary shall conduct a long-term environmental mon11 itoring program to study the effects of production 

12 from methane hydrate reservoirs. 

13 ‘‘(3) COMPETITIVE PEER REVIEW.—Funds 

14 made available under paragraphs (1) and (2) shall 

15 be made available based on a competitive process 

16 using external scientific peer review of proposed re17 search.’’. 

18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 4(e) 

19 of the Methane Hydrate Research and Development 

20 Act of 2000 (30 U.S.C. 2003(e)) is amended in the 

21 matter preceding paragraph (1) by striking ‘‘sub22 section (b)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (1) and 

23 (2) of subsection (b)’’. 

24 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—The 

25 Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 


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1 is amended by striking section 7 (30 U.S.C. 2006) and 

2 inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to the Sec5 retary such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.’’. 

Æ 


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