Reply #77: Yep, that's it exactly

[ThomWV]

Some very deep water is normally at about freezing temperature but I'm not sure the stuff can exist in a slurry - I would think not but that would be way past my knowledge of the stuff. The amount of it under the seas and in tundra regions is staggering and if there was any way at all to get it out (without destroying the planet) it would be the fuel of choice for electricity production and of course the price of natural gas would drop to astoundingly low levels.

Think of it this way, imagine if you could strip mine ice in very cold areas, and you didn't have to dig down more than a few meters to find it. The ice itself would burn just like coal, but instead of leaving ash all it would leave would be fresh water (not particularly pure) and the exhaust gasses would be way way less toxic that you get from burning coal and the stuff is so abundant that it would sell for less than dirt. Of course like any other fossil fuel there is the carbon to deal with, but even it can be captured and sequestered, if one believes in such things.