January 9, 2012

REP. JOHNSON TO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION
BASED ON TWO STORM PANEL REPORT
Windham Lawmaker Will Introduce Legislation Based on Recommendations

State Representative Susan Johnson, a member of the legislature’s Energy and Technology Committee, praised the Governor’s Two Storm Panel’s recommendations released today.

“We can not allow a repeat of what happened following Irene and the October Nor’easter where significant numbers of residents were without electricity, phones, heat or water for over a week,” said Rep. Johnson. “Today’s recommendations are an important step in the right direction. I’m working on legislation to help ensure a much better response to future storms—especially by the state’s utility providers.”

Rep. Johnson was one of the first lawmakers to call on the state Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to review Connecticut Light and Power’s response to Hurricane Irene. In September she held a forum in Windham for residents to discuss how Irene impacted them and hear their suggestions about how utility companies can better respond in the future.

The Two Storm Panel was created to review the preparedness, response and recovery efforts of Irene and the October Nor’easter. The eight member group, with backgrounds in the military, disaster relief, municipal government, non-profit and labor sectors, released a report today containing 82 recommendations including:

• The need to develop reasonable performance standards for utility recovery and restoration after storms, and link recoverable costs to these standards;
• Additional emergency response training and exercises for municipalities, utilities and the state;
• Standards should be more clearly developed for backup power requirements and communication infrastructure hardening for wireless telecommunications;
• Increased collaboration between municipalities, state resources, electric utilities and telecommunications service providers with respect to tree trimming;
• The need for improved worst-case planning and staffing by the state’s utilities;
• Connecticut’s infrastructure needs to be better hardened to withstand natural disasters, and such work should begin as quickly as possible;
• Increased communication and planning between municipalities and utilities before a storm or disaster is imminent;

Increased communication between labor and management in all utilities is strongly recommended.

Rep. Johnson said she was particularly pleased that the Panel recommended that the state Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security work with municipalities to develop improved emergency response plans.