This just in from WBZTV38
Feb 2, 2010 4:26 pm US/Eastern

Yemen To Boston LNG Shipments Approved

BOSTON (AP) - Coast Guard officials say they've developed a security plan to allow the passage of tankers carrying liquefied natural gas shipments from Yemen through the Port of Boston.

Coast Guard Capt. John Healey said the planned shipments that are set to begin at the end of the month have been under review for nearly a year.

Healey, captain of the port, declined to give details of the security plans but said he decide on a case-by-case basis whether to allow each ship to an offloading area in Everett, Mass.

The tankers filled with the potentially explosive gas have become a renewed cause for concern after al-Qaida's offshoot in Yemen allegedly plotted the Christmas Day attempt to bomb a U.S. passenger jet.

About 30 shipments from Yemen are expected annually.

I would bet real money if I had any that the next terrorist "incident" will result in Boston Mayor Thomas Menino pulling the plug on this little security experiment faster than it takes an LNG tanker to go boom and take out half the city.

A great deal of attention has been paid to the terror hazards associated with these huge tankers sailing under a major bridge into an enclosed harbor area, but plans to move the storage facility to a more isolated island location in Boston Harbor have gone nowhere. All the publicity has, of course, made the LNG tankers tempting targets for anyone who might try a shot at getting an explosive device onto one of these enormous floating bombs.