LNG Tanker Liability is Limited by U.S. Law
Liability for disasters caused by LNG tankers delivering liquefied natural gas to American coastal communities is severely limited by the current law of the United States.
(PRWEB) March 17, 2005 -- Ironically, U.S. Law now protects foreign vessel
owners transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) rather than protecting American
citizens and U.S. coastal communities that could be incinerated and destroyed by
an LNG tanker disaster.
Communities now facing LNG facility proposals
throughout coastal America are worried about the safety of LNG, and want to know
if LNG tanker owners would be responsible for American deaths, injuries and
property damage resulting from an LNG spill and disaster.
“People want
to know if LNG tanker owners importing their dangerous cargo to America will be
financially responsible for all the damage they cause,” said consumer protection
attorney Tim Riley who hosts a comprehensive LNG website http://TimRileyLaw.com.
According to Riley, who is licensed to practice law in New York and
California, all LNG vessel owners are protected by the Limitation of Vessel
Owner's Liability Act, 46 U.S.C. 181, et seq.; and the owner's liability is
limited to the value of the vessel and value of its cargo contents remaining
after a calamity occurs. The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that where a ship
sinks after a calamity, the sinking is the termination of the voyage and the
value of the vessel - thus the limitation of the ship owner's liability.
“Ironically, the more damage that occurs to the LNG vessel, and the more
cargo lost, the lower the liability for the vessel owner. This means that an LNG
tanker disaster resulting in the total loss of the vessel and total loss of its
cargo would result in minimal financial liability for the LNG vessel owner -
even where the disaster incinerates an entire coastal community, killing and
injuring thousands of Americans while destroying billions of dollars of
property. Shockingly, the LNG tanker owner's financial liability in such a
scenario for all property damage would be absolutely zero; and for the loss of
thousands of American lives and thousands of severely burned victims, the vessel
owner’s liability would be limited to just $420 per vessel ton,” attorney Riley
explained.
Protecting vessel owners was originally established by the
Limitation of Vessel Owner's Liability Act in 1851, and our Supreme Court has
long held that the owner's duty is essentially satisfied when he properly equips
the vessel and selects competent crew to operate it, and neither the vessel, nor
her owners are responsible for damage or loss resulting from faults or errors in
navigation or in the management of the vessel.
Sadly, wrongful death
claims, burn victim claims, medical costs, loss of earnings, destruction of
homes, cars, airplanes, businesses, stores full of inventory, industrial
complexes, and infrastructure losses which would result from an LNG disaster
would be left without adequate recourse or compensation.
“There are
approximately three dozen LNG importation facilities now being proposed
throughout our United States coastline communities. Each facility would require
gigantic LNG tankers holding the energy equivalent of 55 Hiroshima bombs, to
deliver their ultra hazardous cargo dangerously close to coastal communities,”
said Hayden Riley who co-hosts the LNG website.
“Most people don't know
about LNG and the enormous risks it poses, because there are so few LNG
importation facilities in the world. Currently the continental United States has
only four operating facilities, three of which have never been continually
operational since built in the late 70's; and even though the LNG industry has
had limited activity in its short history - its safety record is truly
alarming,” Mrs. Riley said.
Two massive LNG disasters have already
occurred. The first in Cleveland, Ohio in 1944, which killed 128 people,
produced many burn victims and incinerated one square mile of that city; and the
most recent LNG disaster, of January 2004, created more burn victims caused more
deaths and destroyed approximately $1 billion of property in remote Algeria. The
photographs of the LNG disasters depicted on the Riley’s website resemble
Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped.
The tragic lesson learned
from LNG disasters is that once the ultra hazardous liquefied natural gas is
released from confinement, it instantaneously vaporizes and becomes an expanding
ignitable vapor cloud of mass destruction incinerating everything and everyone
in its path. LNG inferno temperatures are so extreme that the radiant heat
produced causes death and destruction even outside the perimeter of the fiery
blast.
On September 21, 2004, The Providence Journal, in an article
entitled, "Lloyd's Executive Likens LNG Attack to Nuclear Explosion," that paper
reported that a Lloyd's of London Insurance executive Peter Levene likened an
LNG attack to a nuclear explosion. "Gas carriers too, whether at sea or in
ports, make obvious targets," said Levene. "Specialists reckon that a terrorist
attack on an LNG tanker would have the force of a small nuclear
explosion."
Hayden Riley says, “The current proliferation of LNG
proposals will result in the greater probability of another disaster. LNG
facility proponents and vessel owners will never be able to guarantee our
safety.”
“Attempting to minimize the tragic lesson of the Cleveland and
the Algerian disasters, LNG proponents continuously hype LNG's self-proclaimed
'safety' record. They boldly maintain that their LNG facilities and tankers will
operate and deliver LNG perfectly safe - always - without incident, and will be
impervious to all natural calamity and terrorism. Such self-bravado is
ridiculous and unrealistic, but if they truly believe all LNG operations will
run perfectly safe in American communities, then they should back-up their
claims by putting their money where their mouth is. All LNG vessel owners, LNG
facility owners/operators, and the current LNG facility applicants should
voluntarily agree to be held strictly liable and fully responsible for all harm
caused by their ultra hazardous activities - without any financial limitations.
But such voluntary compliance is equally unrealistic to expect.” said attorney
Riley. “Our U.S. laws must be changed, and they should no longer protect foreign
interests and the importers of LNG over the rights of American citizens,” he
added.
The Riley’s maintain, “Protecting importers of foreign fossil
fuel while exposing American citizens and communities to devastation without
adequate recourse or recovery is shortsighted, irresponsible and requires
immediate congressional action.”
Tim and Hayden Riley have also produced
a documentary film, The Risks and Danger of LNG, which highlights the hazards of
LNG by demonstrating its vulnerability to accidental disaster and terrorism; and
shows how massive its destruction can be. The film was an Official Selection of
the Malibu Film Festival, 2004, and has received high praises by an
international anti-terrorist expert.
To preview a short trailer of the
movie and to purchase a DVD or VHS copy of the entire film, visit http://LngDanger.com.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/3/prweb219287.htm