Report - Agence canadienne d'évaluation environnementale

Assessing the risks related to the project
Commission (FERC), the report added that integrated security and safety measures
specific to the LNG facilities were more reliable than those of dangerous chemical
product facilities and other high-risk industrial infrastructures that receive little public
attention, according to the report.
During a forum that was organized by the FERC on LNG facilities security, the former
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) an advisor on national security,
stated that terrorism represented a real threat to the United States, but that an attack
against an LNG facility would be unlikely. In his opinion, terrorists were more
interested in targets which offer a high potential of damages, and an LNG tanker does
not have such a potential, compared to other targets and methods which could result
in much greater human and economic losses 1 . This opinion was shared by one of the
authors of the report from Sandia Laboratories.
The OECD Maritime Transport Committee (MTC) was also of the opinion that LNG
industry marine and land facilities represented, through their robust design and
inherent security measures, unattractive targets for terrorist groups 2 .
In addition, three terrorist attacks have taken place in recent years in countries that
have LNG facilities: Indonesia, Spain and the United Kingdom. These three attacks,
the largest outside of Iraq and Afghanistan since September 11, 2001, suggest that
the target choice for an attack depends on considerations other than the inherent level
of hazard of facilities such as those of the LNG industry.
Lastly, the United States Coast Guard ordered the suspension of activities at the
Everett LNG terminal, close to the port of Boston, after the September 11, 2001
attacks. Concluding an absence of risks and hazards justifying this suspension, it
authorized a resumption of port operations on October 16 th of the same year 3 . After
this decision, the City of Boston applied for an injunction with the Federal Court,
asking for terminal operations to be halted, on the basis of the risks and hazards that
the terminal represented for the city 4 . The Federal Court judge rejected the City’s
1. Susan F. Tierney, Report to the Massachusetts Special Commission Relative to Liquefied Natural Gas Facility
Siting and Use, Boston, Massachusetts, June 30, 2006; G. Woo, A Terrorism Risk Analyst’s Perspective on Tria.
Risk Management Solutions [On-line: www.rms.com/Publications/RiskAnalystPersectiveTRIA_WooForCongress.pdf].
2. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Maritime Transport Committee, Security in Maritime Transport:
Risk Factors and Economic Impact, Paris, July 2003 [On-line: www.oecd.org/dataoecd/19/61/18521672.pdf].
3. [Online: www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/chrn2001.html].
4. [Online: www.kslaw.com/library/pdf/GreenfieldLNGTerminals.pdf].
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