In the wake of Sept. 11, 2001 and the much higher profile for international terrorism, environmentalists and elected officials are taking a closer look at the resurgence of interest in operating liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in the United States, with new concerns about the federal government being poised to okay the re-opening of several East Coast LNG terminals.

The Society of Environmental Journalists’ latest “tip sheet” to its members highlighting environmental issues commanding more news media attention, cited LNG as its lead item under the heading, “LNG Terminals Raise Terror Issues.”

Citing various industry and governmental sources for possible information on LNG, along with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), a growing critic, the environmental journalists’ group said what it called “green-lighting” of the Chesapeake Bay LNG terminal in the midst of heightened terrorism concerns has brought attention to “the special hazards which LNG and similar substances can present to local communities in some parts of the U.S.”

The group’s news alert referred to the re-opening of the Cove Point LNG facility that is located with three miles of a nuclear power plant at Calvert Cliffs, MD, and conjectured that “the North American LNG market is growing, even as U.S. concerns over vulnerability to terrorism mount.”

Noting the potential for “catastrophic explosion is significant,” the journalists alert cites the 1944 Cleveland accident that killed 128 and injured 300, but it also recognized that “environmentally there are pros as well as cons to LNG.” Rather than continuing to flare natural gas into the atmosphere in oil/gas producing nations, and thus, add to the global warming problem, LNG permits a commercial use for the gas in far-away markets through trans-oceanic cargo ship with special refrigeration units.

“Failure of containment and refrigeration systems could be caused by accident or terrorism,” the journalist group said. “Industry officials have argued the LNG is no more dangerous than ordinary gas.”

While Sen. Mikulski’s objections to the handling of Cove Point’s re-opening were cited, the news alert said that the Bush Administration’s Homeland Security Director, former Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge “personally intervened to hurry FERC’s eventual decision to OK the terminal.”

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