A terrorist attack on a liquefied natural gas tanker would cause ”major injuries and significant damage to structures” a third of a mile away and could cause second-degree burns on people more than a mile away, according to the most detailed study yet of the ramifications of an LNG disaster. The study, commissioned by the Department of Energy to resolve differences between earlier studies, indicates that a successful attack on a tanker — via methods such as internal sabotage, a rocket-propelled grenade, a kamikaze flight, or a USS Cole-style suicide boat ramming — would create a profound security threat to Boston. The LNG tankers that service the Distrigas facility in Everett pass within a few hundred yards of the urban core’s densely populated shoreline — placing residents well within the highest risk zone. The ships cross through Boston Harbor under extremely tight security, with flights suspended overhead, but officials including Mayor Thomas M. Menino have declared the LNG shipments too dangerous to continue. Full Story
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