How I learned to stop worrying and love the LNG

mohawk
Originally uploaded by marilora.

Thank you to the Boston Globe for being sure to remind me that I am living at ground zero for a liquified natural gas (LNG) tanker attack. According to this story:

A report released by the US Department of Energy says a terrorist attack on an LNG 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.

and

The study said that if an LNG ship were attacked it would create a puncture of between 6 and 39 feet. A 16-foot puncture, the study said, would produce a thermal blast that would set buildings on fire, melt steel out to 1,281 feet, and give people second-degree burns up to 4,282 feet away.
A 39-foot rupture would burn buildings out to 1,975 feet and burn people up to 6,299 feet away, well over a mile. The worst-case scenario measured by the report was three 16-foot holes. That would set structures aflame out to 2,067 feet and burn people as far as 6,949 feet away.

fireboat
Originally uploaded by marilora.

My apologies to the chick with the dog in Charlestown, but I think if there was a contest, I would definitely win most likely to be incinerated. A little exercise to prove my point. Note the pic of the Tobin Bridge at the top of my blog taken from my bedroom window. Ok. Now note the picture to the right of the same view from the Chelsea side of the Chelsea Creek. Now guess where the tankers pass. Bingo! No wonder my rent is so reasonable. I'm really glad that the Department of Energy released this report. Do you think that they published a how too manual for the terrorists and some accompanying schematics for the attack? Geez, why don't they just provide the explosives, too?