What would a terrorist attack on a Liquid Natural Gas Facility or LNG Tanker near a residential area look like?

“In Sector 8, the attack scenario could produce the following consequences:

• Approximately 3,000 deaths and 10,000 injuries from severe burns in the first few minutes of the pool fire with numbers escalating due to sympathetic fires and untreated burns. Deaths will be concentrated among residents of Providence. 

• Approximately 3,000 homes destroyed among the 10,085 contained in the Orange Ring, with hundreds of others damaged. Homes in Providence, East Providence and Cranston will be affected. 

• Possible sympathetic detonations of chlorine tanks, liquid propane gas tanks, kerosene tanks and oil stored on ships and piers. A chlorine leak or explosion could add significantly to death and injury. These risks merit further analysis. 

• Destruction of the tanker and KeySpan facility, piers and port facilities, the Narragansett Bay Commission, the Allens Avenue Fire Station and local businesses. 

• Damage and/or blockage of I-95 and Allens Avenue, which could impede evacuation and first responder access to victims. 

• Eleven schools at risk. 

• Telecommunications equipment, power infrastructure, parks and hospitals (including Rhode Island Hospital, the local trauma center) at risk. 

• In the long run, tourism, home values and the state economy could suffer from a terrorist incident. 

No amount of resources can mitigate much of the death, damage and injury expected within the Red and Orange Rings. 

Consequence Management resources can only be optimized and improved to triage structures that can be saved, evacuate the population and treat the wounded. “

FROM:
LNG FACILITIES IN RESIDENTAL AREAS
A Security Risk Management Analysis for

ATTORNEY GENERAL PATRICK LYNCH

RHODE ISLAND
by Principal Investigator

Richard A. Clarke