Arguments for and against floating terminal

The battle over the Broadwater project is likely to be contested over at least four key issues: safety, economics, aesthetics and the environmental impact on Long Island Sound.

There were 25 spills, explosions and other “major incidents” at liquefied natural gas terminals and tankers from 1944 to 2002, causing a total of 170 deaths, according to a University of Houston study. A 26th accident, at an Algerian terminal in 2003, killed another 27 people.
But industry officials say liquefied natural gas has been so widely used for decades, especially in Japan, that the number of incidents is actually low. They also note that except for a 1944 explosion in Cleveland that spread through the sewer system and killed 128, no one has been killed outside of a terminal facility or ship.

A 1973 explosion that killed 40 at a Staten Island liquefied natural gas terminal was caused by combustible vapors from tank-cleaning materials and did not involve natural gas.

Newsday, NY