GAO: Coast Guard stretched too thin to protect oil, LNG tankers

[MaineDem]

Source: Portland Press Herald/ AP

WASHINGTON — The Coast Guard lacks the resources to adequately protect tankers carrying liquefied petroleum or crude oil from a possible terrorist attack, congressional auditors reported Wednesday.

The report by the Government Accountability Office said the Coast Guard is stretched too thin in some cases "to meet its own self-imposed security standards such as escorting ships carrying liquefied natural gas."

Also, said the report, some ports visited by the government auditors did not have the resources needed to promptly respond to a terrorist attack on a crude oil or LNG tanker, including a shortage of fire boats and inadequately trained people.

The GAO report said past incidents overseas have shown that fuel-carrying tankers are significant terrorist targets, with the biggest concern being a suicide attack. The report noted the 2002 suicide boat attack on a tanker off the coast or Yemen, for example.

Read more: http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D8U30NQO0-10.html