28-10-01 Fearful critics generally point to America's first LNG facility, in Cleveland. In 1944, a tank cracked, and the gas flowed into the sewers, where it combusted, sending flames back up the pipes to people's houses, killing more than 125 in the resulting fires.
For the past 30 years, using improved safety standards, Boston has had a similar facility on the Mystic River. It has operated without a fatality, but the LNG ships are considered so dangerous that when one comes, the Coast Guard shuts down all of Boston harbour "for a couple of hours," says Lt. J.G. Peter Morehouse. Other ships are required to keep a half-mile away.

For two weeks following the terrorist attacks, Massachusetts officials banned LNG ships from the harbour. The ban was lifted after Tractebel, owner of the facility, commissioned a study by Lloyd's of London that concluded that terrorists would be "most unlikely" to cause a vapour cloud fireball spreading over the harbour.