[Grovenet] Coast Guard "capabilities"

Fri Feb 1 17:25:57 PST 2008

Jim,
I had a lot of responses to my email--many of them apologizing for Ron's comments. What's so funny is that he actually wrote a long posting refuting my information, then he said he would always disagree with me, but he respected the amount of research that I do. He became rather cordial in the end.  I didn't take his first comments personally.
I've been so busy talking with people in Ron Wyden's, Governor Spitzer's, and Kulongoski's office as well as editing a journal article for a researcher in Houston, I haven't had time to respond to his last batch. 
I appreciate your concern; I know you, and I know you are a responsible person, so I know the last person who chastised you must not know that I received many off-line emails apologizing for Ron's behavior. We are all rather passionate at this point. Ron clearly doesn't have at much at stake as we do, but I do believe that he's come to respect that we are a multi-discipline group. At this point, I believe that our status is that Ron and I have agreed to disagree. I think he will agree. :-)
If you wish to post this on grovenet, go ahead. In light of the last guy's comments, I wasn't sure if we should take this off line. 
Secretary of State Bradbury's stance on LNG is great news! The story will be on OPB news (radio, I think) at 6 and 7.
Best regards,
Linda

Jim Zaleski <jimzzz42 at gmail.com> wrote: Linda,

Thank you for your contributions, and your help in establishing the
credibility of our group whom a certain individual on this list
considers to be nay-saying, no nothings. And special thanks for
helping dish up a slice of humble pie to our resident know-it-all, who
seems content only to put down others who do not share his views. It
goes to show you that you cannot go around claiming to be an expert,
and dismissing the credibility and intelligence of others, without
unmasking yourself. Although he would want you to believe so, he is
NOT alway right. All in all, he-who-shall-not-be-named, seems to be
nothing more than a judgemental, pontificating, google-maniac,
spouting off at the world from a very tiny soapbox. Just one small
potato on a very large truck farm.

jimz
Oregon Citizens Against the Pipelines

PS: From this point on, I will speak no more of this individual.

On 1/31/08, Linda Martin 
 wrote:
> Attached are excerpts of reports and links to those reports. They include
> GAO reports and comments by the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast
> Guard and Maritime Transportation. I believe that the Coast Guard has
> contradicted its own reports regarding the Columbia River, and while the
> Coast Guard may claim that there is no problem escorting tankers in the
> Columbia, the GAO and Chairman Cummings disagree:
>
> January 8, 2008 Associated Press
> WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
> continued at
> http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h3m2LlzzbuUMfPtVAohaWqORKSXwD8U2M9BG3
>
> .           Plans for Long Island LNG plant move ahead (Coast Guard
> Contradicts Itself  and report on LNG in Columbia River shipping)
> The FERC report notes that energy needs in the region are rising while
> existing supplies of natural gas are expected to dry up. "The use of natural
> gas for electrical generation, rather than coal or oil, is directed toward
> meeting regional air quality objectives," it says. "The proposed project
> would reduce the area's future need for new or expanded interstate natural
> gas pipelines by providing a local supply of natural gas that uses existing
> distribution facilities."
>
> At the same time, says the report, "construction and operation of the
> project
 would result in limited adverse environmental impacts."
>
> The Coast Guard has recommended a safety zone surrounding each tanker in
> transit that would be about a mile wide and three miles long. The FERC
> report says the safety measure would still allow room for recreational and
> fishing vessels to traverse The Race, the channel through Long Island Sound,
> but some boating and fishing groups oppose the plan because of fears that
> the plant would constrict marine traffic.
> full report:
> http://www.blockislandtimes.com/articles/2008/01/29/news/news2.txt
>
> January 29, 2008
>
> Cummings calls for new LNG terminal security measures    Congressman Elijah
> E. Cummings, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime
> Transportation, yesterday called for new action to enhance the security of
> LNG imports...
>
>  "In some instances, the Coast Guard has required LNG terminals to hire
> local law enforcement to provide some of the security around LNG tankers
> while they are unloading.
>    "While I have the highest respect for our police and other first
> responders, frankly, they have been the first to admit in testimony to our
> Subcommittee at the two hearings we convened on LNG security that they do
> not have the resources and training to take on this type of responsibility.
>   "These types of arrangements --which in my opinion simply are not
> optimal-- are being made because the Coast Guard does not have the resources
> it needs to provide these security services while continuing all of its
> other vital missions.
>   "This is most clearly confirmed in the waterway suitability assessment for
> the proposed Broadwater terminal in New York, in which the Coast Guard
> reported it would need 11 new boats to provide adequate security.
>    "Despite the obvious red flags that this situation should raise, FERC was
> unable to explain what impact the lack of Coast Guard resources would have
> on a pending terminal application."
>   full story...
> http://www.marinelog.com/DOCS/NEWSMMVII/2008jan00291.html
>
> more stories:
> http://malibusurfsidenews.com/stories/200801/20080117003.html
>
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