A prized energy source, or potent terror target?

In the hours after the Sept. 11 attacks, Richard Clarke, then America's top counterterrorism official, rushed to get the US Coast Guard to close Boston Harbor. His main fear: Al Qaeda might attack a huge liquid natural gas tanker as it glided past downtown buildings.

Mr. Clarke professes to know what few did: that Al Qaeda had used LNG tankers to smuggle agents into Boston from Algeria. He also knew that each ship held as much energy as a nuclear weapon. "Had one of the giant tankers blown up..., it would have wiped out downtown Boston," Clarke said in his book "Against All Enemies."

His assertions add a grave new concern to a push to triple the number of LNG terminals in North America. An explosion of just one bulbous tank on an LNG ship could produce a fire half a mile wide, experts say. Along a densely populated shoreline, they add, such an inferno could be disastrous.

The threat puts the Bush administration in a pickle: Its energy policy is running headlong into its efforts to make the nation safe from terrorism. So far, the administration appears to be siding with energy firms, who argue the threat is overblown. But a growing chorus of communities from Maine to California is pressing it to change course.

"If you locate LNG terminals close to residential areas, urban areas, they become a major terrorist target," says Gal Luft, director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington, an energy security policy think tank. "It's not just terminals, but the whole LNG infrastructure from tanker, to the terminal, to the truck."

Clarke got the Coast Guard to close Boston Harbor temporarily. But LNG shipments resumed weeks later, even though Boston officials filed suit to ban LNG tankers from local waters. A federal judge ruled there was no evidence of a credible threat.

But those who oppose proposals to site LNG terminals onshore say they are not so sure. Opposition is growing, especially after an explosion at an LNG terminal in Algeria killed 22 and injured 74 in January. Last month proposals to build LNG terminals in Harpswell, Maine, and Humboldt Bay, Calif., were dropped after intense opposition from local residents. In Alabama, opposition by the governor, local officials, and activists may have squelched two proposed facilities near Mobile.

Today there are four LNG terminals in the US: Everett, Mass., near Boston; Cove Point, Md.; Elba Island, Ga.; and Lake Charles, La. Because US supplies of natural gas are in short supply, more than 30 LNG terminals are under consideration, including some near densely populated areas like Fall River, Mass., Long Beach, Calif., Logan Township, N.J., and Providence, R.I.

Leading the charge are big energy companies such as BP and ExxonMobil - along with smaller concerns like Weaver's Cove Energy, which wants to build a terminal in Fall River. They argue that fears of terrorism and even human error in handling the fuel are vastly overblown, and point to strong safety records, tighter post-9/11 security, and robust LNG tankers. Two controversial studies since 9/11, one for the US Department of Energy (DOE) and another for the industry, suggest LNG tanker fires would be a smaller threat than many fear.

Page: 1 | 2 | 3