Passive mining of Methane hydrates in the tundra

A natural gas shortfall from conventional sources seems inevitable:

. http://europe.theoildrum.com/node/3584#more

The Japanese are planning to overcome this by mining hydrates in the deep sea, which sounds immensely challenging.

International Activities - Japan

Would deposits in the tundra be a better option?

Discussion I have seen centre around how difficult it would be to separate it from the soil, and the huge energy cost involved and so on.

It occurs to me that if the problem is that warming may cause the release of methane, if we increased temperatures by a few degrees then the job would be done.

A largely passive approach might be best, with large areas covered with hexagonal (to ensure a fit on the ground) greenhouses – black tubes on the base, porous underneath and solid at the top, whilst the greenhouse raises the temperature during the summer.

As each area is exhausted, the greenhouse is moved, together with thee pipework which drains the methane.

Of course, you could make many design alterations to the basic system, after the ground is a lot warmer kicking it over a critical level with a heat boost form other sources or drilling bores ready to inject steam into before putting up the greenhouse, and after the soil have spent a season or so warming injecting the steam.

Is this extensive way of extraction make any sense?

It might even help a bit with Global warming, as the methane would be burnt and end up as the much less powerful carbon dioxide instead of methane, gradually being released as we warm up.