Environmental Hazards from Offshore Methane Hydrate Operations - Civil Liability and Regulations for Efficient Governance Author Partain R.A. Date 2017 Source IUCN (ID: MON-094157) Publisher | Place of publication Kluwer Law International | The Hague, The Netherlands ISBN 9789041187307 Document type Monography/book Language English Field of application International Subject Energy Keyword Renewable energy Public health Governance Liability/compensation Risk assessment/management Abstract 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 for endowing those states with abundant natural gas; in addition to their utility as freshwater resources and as carbon sinks for captured greenhouse gases is vast. This book presents the first treatment of the legal issues facing the future of offshore methane hydrates, taking into account both proprietary interests and environmental hazards. The analysis compares and contrasts recommended legal policies with existing legal frameworks in relevant international conventions, the European Union, and the United States. Rules of civil liability are reviewed to determine when strict liability or negligence might be efficiently employed in risk governance along with the implementation of public regulations. As a road map to amending and revising existing laws and conventions, this book will be of inestimable practical value to policymakers in supporting the optimal risk governance of the development of methane hydrates. For potential entrepreneurs and operators, this book greatly reduces the legal uncertainty underlying their decision-making and investment decisions. Furthermore, this book enables a broad cross-section of legal practitioners and scholars to engage in this fascinating late arrival to the natural resources law and policy arena. Website lrus.wolterskluwer.com