On October 12, 2001, the U.S. Coast Guard lifted a ban on LNG tankers from Boston harbor. The ban, in effect starting September 26, 2001 (two weeks after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, DC), was established in response to security and safety concerns about the ships that bring LNG to the import facility of Distrigas of Massachusetts (a Division of Tractebel, Inc.). The decision enabled the reopening of the Distrigas facility in Everett, Massachusetts, one of five currently active LNG facilities in the United States (plus one in Puerto Rico). The other four active U.S. LNG facilities are located in Lake Charles, Louisiana; Elba Island, Georgia; Cove Point, Maryland, which received its first commercial LNG cargo in 23 years in August 2003; and offshore Louisiana (the Gulf Gateway Energy Bridge deepwater port, operational since March 2005). Cove Point is now the nations largest LNG import facility, and a new 2.5-Bcf storage tank is scheduled to be added in January 2005 by its owner, Dominion. Expansion is also planned for the Lake Charles and Elba Island LNG facilities.
On balance, interest is growing in LNG as a source of Natural Gas for U.S. electric power generation and also as a source that would provide supply flexibility. EIA expects that net LNG imports to the United States will increase sharply in coming years, growing to 2.5 Tcf in 2010 and 6.4 Tcf in 2025. During 2004, the United States received about 652 Bcf of LNG, mainly from Trinidad and Tobago, Algeria, and Qatar.