Ken Dixon's Blog-O-Rama

Here’s Gov. Rell’s latest news release

            “Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she is assembling a panel of state agencies – to be chaired by Senior U.S. District Judge Alan H. Nevas – to identify the cause and origin of the Kleen Energy power plant explosion in Middletown on Sunday, including any potential contributing factors such as construction problems, worker safety issues and licensing or permitting matters.

            Governor Rell said she is forming a second group of state agencies, local officials and subject-matter experts to review the disaster and the findings of the Nevas-led panel and other investigations. The second panel will determine whether any changes should be made to Connecticut laws, state and local regulations or building and fire codes to protect both workers and residents living in the areas surrounding construction projects.

            “The explosion in Middletown not only shattered the peace of a quiet Sunday morning, it led to the tragic loss of five valuable lives and devastated their families,” Governor Rell said. “There are so many unanswered questions: What led to this disaster? What were the contributing factors? Could anything have been done to prevent it? These are the questions that we must answer now, not only for the sake of the victims and their families but to avoid tragedies like this in the future.

            “Our response to the Middletown explosion must follow two distinct but critical paths,” the Governor said. “We must first identify what went wrong and then determine every measure we can take to prevent future catastrophes. The reviews must be thorough, impartial and swift. And if there are concrete steps we can take in the meantime, we must be equally swift in putting those new measures into place.”

            Governor Rell said the Nevas panel will include representatives from the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Labor, the Connecticut State Police (including the Office of the State Fire Marshal and the Office of the State Building Inspector), the Department of Consumer Protection and the Department of Public Utility Control.

            The group will examine issues such as whether all necessary permits were obtained, whether there was sufficient on-site supervision at the time of the explosion, whether all applicable labor laws were followed, whether all safety measures were followed, whether all employees were properly licensed and trained and whether fire and building code provisions were followed.

            The second panel is to be chaired by James “Skip” Thomas, recently retired Commissioner of the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and former Glastonbury police chief. State agencies to be represented on the panel include the Department of Public Utility Control, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, the Office of the State Building Inspector and the Department of Public Works. Representatives from engineering and architectural firms, as well as municipal engineering and fire officials, will also be asked to participate in the review.

            The Thomas panel will review state and local permitting processes, building codes and construction oversight methods as they relate to the construction of power plants and large industrial facilities with on-site generating facilities, as well as training and safety protocols for testing power systems – including maintaining accurate lists of personnel who are present during such tests.

            “Like safety on the job site, these reviews must be a group effort,” Governor Rell said. “All of us must share a single goal: To avoid a repeat of Sunday’s terrible explosion and the resulting loss of life, injuries and property damage.”

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro and U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney said this afternoon that they’ve been assured that there will be a Congressional hearing on yesterday’s explosion. They said there were eerie similarities between yesterday and a June 9 blast in Garner, N.C.

 The Blogster would like to know how many of those 148 tax-dodging state taxpayers who voluntarily disclosed their secret bank accounts with Swiss-based UBS, live in Greenwich.

 The state Dept. of Revenue Services reported last week that the program has netted $2 million in tax revenue. Here’s some distillation of this morning’s news release.

           “Wealthy tax evaders should heed this last call:  pay up now or pay penalties later,” said Blumenthal, whose office began an investigation last year to see how many of the 4,450 Americans who sent money to UBS in attempt top evade taxes. “Our investigation will ultimately and inevitably identify all tax evaders who secretly hid money in offshore UBS accounts, shortchanging hard-working Connecticut taxpayers.”

            Blumenthal said the identities of the account holders will eventually be shared with state officials, “exposing state tax evaders to significant penalties.”

“The scene in Middletown is still very active and dozens of state, local and other officials are working tirelessly. Their efforts are expected to continue through the rest of the day and night and into tomorrow. As details are confirmed, Middletown officials, who have control of the scene, will brief the community and the media.

“I thank the many first responders who are braving the very cold and windy conditions. I ask the people of Connecticut to keep those working at the plant at the time of the explosion and their families in their prayers.”

Dennis Schain, spokesman for the DEP, says the agency’s emergency response unit are on site, conducting air quality monitoring and assisting other state and local agencies in the search and rescue.  “At this point our first concern is to help in locating and providing care for anyone who may have been injured in the explosion,” he said at about 4:30. “After that critical mission is accomplished there will be time to assess and address any environmental impacts associated with this tragic event.”

The Blogster was frightened a wee bit this week when Democrats responded to the governor’s Obama-style calls for civility with..well.. civility.

 Fortunately, there’s House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, who’s hoping to grow his tony 36-member caucus in the 2010 elections.

 Here he is on the budget and politics: “If I were some of the Democratic candiates running for governor right now, not one of whom has offered a thing, if their party, which is in the super-majority of this Legislature, I would be saying ‘hey if I win this thing I’m going to be up here a year from now giving a budget address. You guys had better do your job here.’ I haven’t heard any of that. I didn’t hear it last year, the worst economic crisis of our history.”

Here’s the annual report on those House and Senate staffers who a) work too hard for little money or b) hardly work for the big bucks. Pass these listings, courtesy of Legislative Management, around the office. As usual, the list, which was requested under the state Freedom of Information Act, doesn’t include title or job descriptions. You have to figure that the bigger the salaries, the larger the title and the less a caucus employee actually does. ”HDO” means House Democrats; “SRO” mans Senate Republicans, etc. But you knew that.

Chris Shays, our former long-time congressman from the Fourth District, was among the gaggle of potential gubernatorial candidates in the state Capitol yesterday for the opening kickoff of the 2010 session. Unlike the other possible candidates, Shays no longer lives in the state. Also unlike the other candidates, Shays came up to the Capitol Press Room to touch base with the Blogster, who, alas, was out attending a briefing on Gov. Rell’s budget propoal. Shays wrote a note chidding the Blogster for the state of his desk, perused a few old copies of the Connecticut Post, then trotted back downstairs to schmooze and be schmoozed.

The Blogster was so sad to have missed Shays that he wanted to check up on him. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, you may recall, appointed Shays last April as co-chairman of the Federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Federal Election Commission records, Shays, of 9241 Deepwater Port Road, St. Michael, MD, wrote Boehner a $1,000 campaign check in December for his re-election bid.