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If, for whatever reason, the water at these depths warms enough so the stability of the Methane Hydrate is destroyed,...

I love these doomsday scenarios that always begin with the word "if".
If frogs had wings...

Makes for entertaining movie scripts but are worth zero as a basis for energy policy. Some people really believe they sound profound...

Now I really don't believe that the oceans will warm sufficiently for a huge burp of Methane Hydrate will gasify and come to the surface. But the policymakers have to be apprised of some calamity if they DON'T act, that is at least as compelling as the hoopla that surrounds the Kyoto Protocol. This way, the weapon the enviro-whackos use so freely, shouting some doomsday scenario, may be played into taking some pre-emptive action (sucking the Methane Hydrate up off the ocean floor) BEFORE we a) run out of all options for cheap energy recovery, or b) a compelling rationalization AGAINST tapping this source may be composed by the poets of junk science.

A couple hundred years ago there were places where "rock oil" just seeped out of hillsides and ruined watering holes, while people lighted their houses with whale oil.