Hope that wasn't my shipment...

http://www.boston.com/news/daily/25/tanker.htm

Coast Guard keeps natural gas tanker from Boston

By Reuters, 09/25/01

BOSTON, -- The U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday barred from Boston Harbor a tanker filled with 33 million gallons of liquid natural gas -- enough to power a small city for a year -- citing security concerns after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Two of the four hijacked jetliners left Boston's Logan airport Sept. 11 and smashed into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center, demolishing the buildings and leaving more than 6,400 people dead.

The 948-foot long tanker from Trinidad was bound for the Distrigas of Massachusetts holding facility in Everett, Massachusetts, a small community just across the harbor from Boston.

"We have been working with all the necessary authorities to increase and enhance the security involved in bringing our LNG tankers into Boston Harbor," Richard Grant, the head of the privately held company, said in a statement. "While we are concerned about the adequacy of energy supplies as the heating season approaches, I understand the issues raised by the Coast Guard."

The Coast Guard did not return calls seeking comment.

Distrigas supplies between 15 and 20 percent of New England's gas demand. Last year, 46 vessels delivered similar loads to its Boston facility, a company spokeswoman said.

The amount of LNG aboard the tanker is enough to heat about 30,000 homes for a year, the spokeswoman said.

However, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor of energy Mel Weiss put it another way.

"It's enough energy to power every vehicle in the United States for about 90 minutes. The amount of energy involved is the equivalent of a half million barrels of gasoline. The United States uses 8 million gallons of gasoline a day," Weiss said.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001

Answers

The good part is they are closely watching and taking action, the not so good part is that they feel they need to. I bet you are fit to be tied. For some reason tonight I am hyper as all get out.

-- Anonymous, September 25, 2001

So, I suppose they plan to board the vessel and search the crew, and see if any match the terrorist database?

It's not like the story says anything.

Tanker, full, stopped, receiver is understanding of delay, coast guard says nothing, professor compares 33 million gallons of liquid natural gas to .5 million barrels of gas.

Is this suppose to be the energy of an explosion?

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Barefoot, it would take out Boston. No kidding. It's the most dangerous harbor cargo we have.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

But that is not mentioned in the article. It compares the energy involved to how many cars a day it can run. converts it into barrels of gas like we would know what that would look like. It never says that the explosion would be like so many barrels of gas, or like so many cars.

Weird article, if that was what they were trying to say. What about the other ports where those tankers enter? Is there a list of the ports that those tankers use?

texas, most any and every port? Lousianna, New Orleans? Florida, Miami, Ft Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Tampa, Pensacola? California, Long Beach? San Fransisco, San Diego? Michigan, Illinois?

The problem is that most any port has a city, so the threat is there.

What are they gonna do? Make them use smaller tankers?

Weird article.

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

It's not just a port. There is also a large petroleum terminal on the inner reaches.

The article does cite "security concerns". I already knew about the hazards of natural gas. Presumably all other harbor traffic is stopped when those tankers pass through. Probably something we don't like to dwell on.

I don't know what percentage of our NG comes by ship or by pipeline. There should be another major pipeline available in a couples years (one of the projects I'm working on).

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001