Crude oil, refined products and highly volatile liquids pipelines in the U.S. and what would happen if we get bombed

In the September HSToday I wrote the one-page story, “The Case of Cushing,” that was part of our special report, “Petro Jihad,” that examined oil and gas production and distribution infrastructure security throughout North America.

But emphasis on its security was found wanting. Even former CIA Director James Woolsey, an advisor to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, admitted the facility isn’t sufficiently hardened against attack. He described it as “a soft target.” Authorities say it shouldn’t be!

[link to www.hstoday.us (secure)]

From 2007:

A chilling terrorist plot to blow up a fuel pipeline that feeds JFK Airport – that its four Muslim schemers hoped would be so large that “even the Twin Towers can’t touch it” – has been stopped dead in its tracks with the arrest of three of the four men behind it, authorities announced yesterday.

The international plot – which was only in its planning phases – stretched from Queens to the West Indies and involved a Guyanese politician, two men from Trinidad and a Guyanese-born U.S. citizen who had once worked as a cargo handler at the airport.

In the indictment charging them, one is quoted as saying the plot would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,” destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of Queens, where the line lies just four feet underground.

The accused mastermind, Russell Mohammed Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee, allegedly said the airport was a symbol that would put “the whole country in mourning.”

[link to nypost.com (secure)]

only reason I post above link is to show the severity of just 1 blown pipeline. Seriously, I can't be the only one here who has thought of this.

There really isn't much info to find on the web and was REALLY hoping someone here who is more knowledgeable about the subject would contribute a speculation.

One useful source of pipeline location information is the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS). The NPMS shows pipelines at the county by county scale.

[link to www.npms.phmsa.dot.gov (secure)]

unfortunately the link above has been 404'd.

just not a lot of info out there since 2007 for some reason!