At the Middletown Power Plant Explosion

At least one Bristol man is at the scene of the horrific Kleen Energy Systems plant explosion on River Road in Middletown today.

Jeff Merrow, business manager for the Laborers Local 611, is as close as he can get to the property -- which isn't very close -- and trying without much success to get information.

I reached him on his cell phone about 2 p.m.

One thing he was able to confirm with a foreman, he said, is that his union members were able to get out alive. One had to go to the hospital, Merrow said, but has been released.

"I had six people working today. My Laborers are all out," said Merrow. "It's been an ongoing, seven-day-a-week job up there."

Merrow said he's stuck with the press corps who are there, waiting at the perimeter, watching and hearing all kinds of things.

"We're just standing here on stand-by," said Merrow, who said he can't see anything on the property from where he is. "Everything we hear is all rumors."

He has seen emergency crews come and go, including a LifeStar helicopter a few times, he said.

Merrow said the state police aren't letting anyone on or off the property except those who are hurt.

"They're taking the injured out," said Merrow. But he said, "Most of the ambulances are going out of here empty."

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Here's a little bit more that I found out about the projects from the website of a subcontractor, High Steel Structures, Inc.

Project Owner: Kleen Energy Systems, LLC.
Contractor: O&G Industries
Architect: WorleyParsons
Steel Fabricator: Berlin Steel
Steel Subcontractor: High Steel Structures Inc.

Berlin Steel of Massachusetts took the lead bidding the complete steel fabrication package, which totaled approximately 5,000 tons. Berlin involved High Steel early in the budgeting phase, and the two companies worked closely together through the bidding process. Contractor O&G Industries, Inc. awarded Berlin the fabrication contract, with High Steel as a subcontractor. High Steel’s scope involved large roof girders, crane girders, and several very large transfer girders for a total of 750 tons of built-up sections.
Kleen Energy Systems, LLC’s new 620 MW Combined Cycle Electric Generating Facility is located in Middletown, Connecticut. Unlike older power plants that are less than 30 percent efficient, the new gas-fired, combined cycle power plant is designed to operate at over 60 percent efficiency. The combined cycle process achieves this increased efficiency by sending waste heat from the gas turbine generator, that would normally be lost, to a steam turbine to generate even more electricity.
The plant is expected to come on line by June 1, 2010.

If I hear anything more, I'll update.