Alert Warns of Fake Coast Guard Vessel

Several area chemical plants have been warned to take extra precautions after a boat masquerading as a Coast Guard vessel was spotted on the Kanawha River.

“They should do whatever is necessary to protect the facility if the boat approaches at high speed,” said Lt. Renee Kern, chief of port operations for the Coast Guard’s Huntington office.

“We left the decision entirely up to them whether to move vessels in the way, or to shoot, or to use a crane, or whatever,” Kern said.

Coast Guard officials warned the area’s five largest chemical and energy plants that the boat had been spotted near Charleston. Kern didn’t identify the plants.

Of the more than 30 chemicals that federal authorities say have the potential for mass destruction when they are in large containers, 28 are made in West Virginia.