Threat made on gas lines

Associated Press

Energy companies with pipelines throughout the United States, including Snohomish County, acknowledged Monday that they received an FBI warning that terrorists may attack North American natural gas pipelines and facilities if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed.

Natural gas producers and pipeline companies continued to be on a high state of alert, industry executives said Monday, although they declined to discuss the latest warning, which was sent in a memo to industry security officials last week.

A pair of natural gas pipelines runs down the center of Snohomish County, passing near Arlington, Lake Stevens and Snohomish, with spurs splitting off west toward Lynnwood and east parallel to U.S. 2.

The owner of the pipelines, Williams Gas Pipeline, had already stepped up patrols in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., said company spokeswoman Beverly Chipman. She confirmed the company had received the FBI alert, but said more frequent checks of the pipeline by officials in airplanes, cars and on foot were already in place.

"We aren’t doing anything additional. Essentially we’ve been in a heightened state of alert since Sept. 11," she said.

The pipelines run 1,800 miles from Sumas, at the Canadian border, to Colorado.

The director of Snohomish County’s Department of Emergency Management, Roger Serra, said he wasn’t aware of the new warning. But he has already spoken with pipeline companies about the possibility they could be targeted for sabotage, he said.

"We’ve always considered the pipelines to be a potential target," he said.

If residents living near the pipelines have questions or see something suspicious, they can call Williams’ Redmond district office at 425-868-1010, or call local law enforcement, Chipman said. In an emergency, they can call the company’s pipeline control office at 800-972-7733, she said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft confirmed the warning that bin Laden had approved plans to attack pipelines or energy facilities in the event of his death or capture — or that of Taliban leader Mullah Omar — though Ashcroft expressed some doubt that attacks would need such conditions in order to take place.

"It didn’t take anything specific to trigger the attacks on the World Trade Center or the Pentagon," said Ashcroft when asked about the alert at a news conference. Even so, "those are the kinds of reports which we take seriously."

The FBI alert said the information came "from a source of undetermined reliability" and that "no additional details on how such an attack would be carried out, or which facilities would be targeted" could be learned.

"Our facilities are on high alert, and they have been since Sept. 11," said Laurie Cramer, a spokeswoman for the Natural Gas Supply Association, which represents natural gas producers.

There are 263,000 miles of natural gas transmission lines crossing the country and another million miles of local distribution lines. Although most of the lines are buried, aerial surveillance of major pipelines has been increased and security tightened at pumping stations, industry officials said.

Access to facilities has been restricted as well, officials said. Also, some detailed information about location of pipelines and other energy infrastructure has been taken off some corporate and government Internet sites.

Herald writer Warren Cornwall contributed to this report.