A report issued by Sandia National Laboratories, a government nuclear weapons facility, finds that a liquefied natural gas accident could burn structures and people nearly a mile away.

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, December 22, 2004

By C. EUGENE EMERY JR.
Journal Staff Writer

FALL RIVER -- Mayor Edward M. Lambert Jr. said yesterday a new report from one of the nation's top laboratories should be the death knell for liquefied natural gas terminals proposed for populated areas such as Fall River and Providence.

But the developer of the LNG project proposed for Fall River characterized that assessment as premature, saying it will take time to evaluate the findings from the Sandia National Laboratory, a government nuclear weapons facility, in New Mexico.

The 167-page unclassified version of the report, acquired by The Journal yesterday afternoon, characterizes the risk of a catastrophic event -- either an accident or terrorist attack -- as remote.

But if it happens -- and the report states that available weaponry could easily blow a 10-foot hole in a tanker -- the damage could be widespread.

In a typical case of an LNG spill caused by a terrorist attack or other intentional act, anyone exposed to the heat within a mile of the fire would experience second-degree burns within 30 seconds, according to the report.

The same spill would cause "significant damage to structures, equipment and machinery," including steel tanks, within one-third mile of the blaze after about 10 minutes of exposure. Wood inside that zone could ignite.

Firefighters, even with special clothing, wouldn't be able to get close to the inferno, which would burn for about eight minutes, according to a typical scenario studied by the Sandia scientists.

Gordon Shearer of Weaver's Cove Energy and Hess LNG, which are developing the Fall River project, said Lambert and other critics yesterday were relying on the AP account of the report, and that such news summaries tend to be unreliable.

He said it would probably take until mid-January for Weaver's Cove to check the findings and see whether they agree with previous risk assessments, or whether they "present new material and new information."

"These are very dense, very mathematical reports," he said.

Because the report became widely available only yesterday afternoon, before Lambert held a news conference, "I don't understand how anyone could read it and have a comprehensive understanding of it yet," Shearer said.

But Lambert said the work had been done by one of the government's top laboratories and that it confirms what the city and its consultant have been asserting for months.

"Independent scientists hired by the federal government in a report commission by the U.S. Department of Energy have verified what we have been saying, that transportation of this material could have devastating consequences," the mayor said during his 1:30 p.m. news conference yesterday.

LNG supporters have said that the dire warnings issued by some scientists critical of LNG terminals have been mistaken or overblown, and that the effects of any accident could be mitigated.

Lambert said he is concerned that the Sandia report seems to offer similar reassurances, but "those don't seem to be statements of scientists." Instead, they seem to be politically motivated.

Such reassurance, Lambert said, "reassures nobody."

LNG promoters often say that any danger can be minimized, but often without offering any specifics of how to prevent a spill or attack, or limit the effects of a potentially disastrous incident.

Lambert said he's not sure that the Sandia report, as sobering as its conclusions are, will convince the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to cancel the Fall River project. FERC has final say in all LNG terminal projects.

With the support of the Bush administration, he said, members of FERC have "felt they can site these projects anywhere they want."

Lambert said White House intervention would be required to get FERC to take the Sandia report as seriously as it should.

"It is time for this administration to stop this and any other proposal like this in populated areas," he said.

If the Bush administration really wants to reduce the risks of terrorism, he said, the LNG threat is something it should take seriously.

To contact Gene Emery, phone (508) 674-8401 or e-mail gemery(at)projo.com.