U.S. lacks resources to guard LNG tankers- GAO

By Chris Baltimore

WASHINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard lacks the means to meet its own criteria for protecting a rising number of tankers carrying super-cooled natural gas to U.S. ports, U.S. congressional investigators said on Wednesday.

"A lack of resources has hindered some Coast Guard units from meeting their self-imposed requirements for security activities, such as escorts and boardings," according to the Government Accountability Office, U.S. Congress' watchdog.

The September 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York and Washington have raised concerns that assailants could target U.S. energy infrastructure, such as nuclear power plants or special tankers that carry liquefied natural gas (LNG) from suppliers like Nigeria and Trinidad to energy-hungry U.S. consumers.

Two LNG-laden tankers currently arrive at one of five U.S. ports every three days, but that number is expected to quadruple by 2015 as demand for clean-burning natural gas increases.

"These increased demands could cause the Coast Guard to continue to be unable to meet the standards it has set for keeping U.S. ports secure," the GAO said.

Tankers carrying LNG, as well as crude oil and refined petroleum products such as gasoline, are vulnerable to an attack from rockets, mortars or rocket-propelled grenades, the GAO said. The GAO reported no specific threat of attack at U.S. ports.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, speaking on the Coast Guard's behalf, said it concurred with many of the GAO's findings, but said that LNG tankers are only one of "a number" of dangerous cargoes headed into U.S. ports.

"The Coast Guard is analyzing how to best meet security needs for not just LNG carriers, but for (dangerous cargoes) as a whole," the department said in a response to the GAO.