3 years later, many still reluctant to talk about deadly Kleen Energy blast in MiddletownFeb 08 - New Haven Register
Even though it ultimately resulted in workplace safety changes, there is a real reluctance to discuss Thursday's third anniversary of the explosion that occurred at the Kleen Energy power plant, which killed six workers and injured at least 50 others. That may have something to do with litigation surrounding the explosion. The Hartford Courant reported in December that there have been at least 29 lawsuits filed, involving more than 60 people, against the power plant operator and the Torrington-based company that built it, O&G Industries. Even though the blast was strong, it didn't keep the plant from opening 17 months after the explosion. The plant provides 620 megawatts of power for New England's electric grid. S. Derek Phelps, who was executive director of the Connecticut Siting Council when the plant's location was approved and when the blast occurred, said that while the deaths were tragic, "nothing that occurred in the construction of the plant was out of step with industry practices at the time." But within a year of the blast, O&G Industries was cited by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 142 separate violations in the incident. Plans for the plant received approval from the Connecticut Siting Council in 1998. But construction didn't start until after 2005, when the state's Energy Independence Act was passed to encourage construction of new power plants that would replace less efficient ones statewide. Connecticut regulators selected the plant in April 2007 as one of four projects that would be given guaranteed power contracts for which taxpayers would foot the bill. Phelps said construction of the plant "has provided the state with critical economic benefits, particularly construction industry jobs, during the height of the economic recession." Kleen Energy's Middletown plant had the third-highest assessed value last year, at $66.78 million. The plant's majority owner is a New York-based private equity firm, Energy Investors Funds, which specializes in power projects. A spokesman would not comment Thursday on the explosion or the plant's current operations. ___ (c)2013 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at www.nhregister.com http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=27513562 |