Aiming to establish a development system fully considered from the environmental point of view, the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) team of MH21 Research Consortium has conducted practical
studies on EIA with offshore methane hydrate (MH) development in Japan’s Methane Hydrate R&D
Program. In this EIA study, we have implemented various kind of studies related to identification of
potential environmental risks with MH development, prediction for the magnitude of environmental
impacts on marine environment. In addition, we plan to evaluate these significances by environmental
monitoring through two offshore production tests planned in Phase 2 (FY2009-2015). Based on the data
acquired in Phase 2, we will propose necessary countermeasures against potential environmental concerns
with commercial MH production in the future.