The Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee

An Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Energy

CURRENT MEMBERSHIP Thomas Blasingame Texas A&M University College Stanton, TX  Richard Charter The Ocean Foundation Bodega Bay, CA Marlan Downey Roxanna Oil Company Dallas, TX  Mary Feeley ExxonMobil Exploration Company Houston, TX Peter Flemings Bureau of Economic Geology University of TX at Austin Austin, TX David Goldberg Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory Columbia University Palisades, NY Miriam Kastner Scripps Institute of Oceanography La Jolla, CA Carolyn Koh Colorado School of Mines Golden, CO David W. Scholl USGS Emeritus USGS Menlo Park, CA Craig Shipp Shell International E&P Inc. Houston, TX Robert Swenson Alaska Department of Natural Resources Fairbanks, AK Jefferson W. Tester Cornell University Ithaca, NY Anne Trehu Oregon State University Corvallis, OR Joseph Wilder University of Akron Akron, OH

The Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee was created in response to provisions of the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000 [1.13MB PDF] and reauthorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.

The Committee is to advise the Secretary of Energy on potential applications of methane hydrate; assist in developing recommendations and priorities for the methane hydrate research and development program; and submit to Congress one or more reports on an assessment of the research program and an assessment of the DOE 5-year research plan.

The Committee's charter stipulates that up to 15 members can be appointed by the Secretary of Energy, representing institutions of higher education, industrial enterprises and oceanographic institutions and state agencies.

The Committee is required by P.L. 109-58 to meet biennially. The Energy Department's Office of Fossil Energy is responsible for providing financial and administrative support to the Committee.

Reports 

• Methane Hydrate Charter
• Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, October 2011. 
• Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, March 2010.
• Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, January 2010.
• Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes, April 2008.
• Report to Congress- Report of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee on An Assessment of the Methane Hydrate Research Program and An Assessment of the 5-Year Research Plan of the Department of Energy, June 2007   [787KB PDF]