Patrols increased at Logan's fuel facility

Officials increased security at Logan International Airport's East Boston fuel facility yesterday after the FBI informed local and state officials of a thwarted plot to blow up the jet-fuel supply tanks and pipeline at JFK Airport in New York.

"We've always taken big precautions on our fuel farm, and it's under constant patrol by State Police," said Dennis Treece, director of corporate security for the Massachusetts Port Authority. Treece said the increased patrols would remain in place at least a week.

The plot in New York involved blowing up a fuel line that runs underground through Queens. Logan has a similar fuel line, but it is contained in the airport, Treece said.

"It's clear that part of the danger [in the New York case] was that the fuel farm for JFK is 40 miles away from the airport, while ours is right on airport property," he said.

Warren T. Bamford, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office, said in an interview that he immediately began notifying Massachusetts officials through Boston's Joint Terrorism Task Force after learning of the break in the New York investigation.

"We see this case as an isolated case related to New York and JFK Airport, we have no information of any threat to any facility or location here in Massachusetts and particularly in Boston," he said.

He said the FBI had not recommended any additional actions or heightened security for the Bay State, and that the agency saw no specific danger for this area.

"We certainly have investigations that are ongoing here," he said, referring to the area covered by the FBI's Boston's office, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts. "But we have no information of any specific or credible threats at this time."

Mayor Thomas M. Menino said only the normal precautionary measures had been taken after the city was contacted by the FBI.

"We have protocols in place [when such a threats occur] but we didn't take any additional precautions" beyond that, he said.

He declined to specify what types of protocols local law enforcement authorities employed.

Governor Deval Patrick was informed around 11 a.m. yesterday, according to his spokesman, Kyle Sullivan.

"The administration has been in touch with the FBI and Massport," said Sullivan, who referred questions to Massport.

Treece said Massport was informed as a courtesy just before the plot details were released to the public.

"If there had been a threat to us, we would have known earlier," he said.

Treece said the airport ordered extra State Police patrols at the gates fuel trucks use to access the airport. The stepped-up patrols were inside airport facilities as well as outside gates, said Treece, pointing out that one of the men arrested in the JFK plot was a former airport employee. The added security would not have been noticed by passengers, he said.

Treece called reports that terrorists could create a massive chain reaction of explosions through pipelines are overstated.

"There are all kinds of valves between the tanks, so that's just not the way those things happen," he said. "But that doesn't mean it isn't a bad thing when you get a fuel farm fire."

FAA spokeswoman Tammy Jones said there were no flight delays related to increased security yesterday.

Terror threats have particular resonance at Logan Airport, where terrorists boarded the two planes that struck the World Trade Center in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I certainly think Massachusetts worries about its vulnerability, and Logan in particular does," said Arnold Barnett, a security specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I would think they would take a threat like this very seriously."

Treece said Logan Airport has generally remained at a higher threat level than the nation at large.

"This is good police work and good homeland security," Treece said. "Let's catch these guys before they blow something up."

Specialists have pointed out the number of potential targets and the impossibility of protecting the city fully against every possible terrorist attack.

Yet specialists also say that terrorists may be loath to risk capture while targeting locations that won't cause the kind of widespread devastation or disruption they are seeking. For example, many underground gas lines have shut-off valves that will isolate any problem, including an explosion.

"These lines are not really much of a target, they are buried deep, they have shutdown" abilities, said James Fay, professor emeritus at MIT.

Fay has repeatedly warned of a catastrophic explosion if terrorists target tankers carrying super-cooled gas through Boston Harbor to an Everett terminal. Officials agree and have placed extraordinary security around the ships as they travel through Boston waters roughly every week to 10 days.

Boston officials have received about $230 million in federal antiterrorism funds since the Sept. 11 attacks to protect the city, according to statistics provided to the Globe last year.

They have shored up communication networks responding to any attacks and hope to have a 7,000-foot-long movable barrier that could seal off sections of the harbor to protect tankers and cruise ships from a bomb on another boat.

Despite the news from New York , some passengers at Logan last night were not concerned.

"It was on the news at the airport, but no one really seemed to care," said Katie Marino, 32, of Medford, who had passed over New York on a flight from Philadelphia, where she had attended a wedding. "I thought about it for a second because we were flying over New York, but then I didn't think much of it."

But it gave others pause.

"I saw news about it online this morning and started to rethink my travel plans," said Guil Mette, 33, of Leominster, who was headed to Las Vegas. "Everything today is so random; there's not a lot of control over these things when planning a trip. If we were going to New York, it would be a different story. We might have canceled plans."

Brian Ballou, Beth Daley, Kathy McCabe, and Bryan Bender of the Globe staff, and Globe correspondent Erin Conroy contributed to this report. John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.