Carlsbad Fire Chief Kevin Crawford said that this week’s fatal explosion at a Connecticut power plant has validated his city’s stand that such projects are dangerous and shouldn’t be underestimated.
The blast occurred Sunday, three days after public hearings wrapped up on a proposal by NRG Energy to build a 540-megawatt plant next to Interstate 5 in Carlsbad.
Construction of the 620-megawatt plant in Middletown, Conn., was nearing completion when crews were testing a natural-gas line. The blast ripped a giant hole in the works, killing five workers and injuring 27. The explosion was heard 20 miles away.
“It gives me a sense that maybe in the eyes of other people, my opinion is getting validated a little,” Crawford said. “Here’s exactly what we were trying to say.”
However, Steve Hoffmann, president of NRG Energy’s Western division, which has proposed the Carlsbad plant, said it’s wrong to link the two.
“I don’t believe you can draw a parallel,” Hoffmann said. “The Kleen Energy (in Connecticut) plant and the Carlsbad plant are very different.
“The Kleen Energy plant was in a building. Natural gas was released in a building … and went off, and that’s what caused the explosion.”
He said the Carlsbad plant will be in the open, so gas can’t concentrate in an enclosure and cause the same kind of blast.
Matthew Layton, manager of the California Energy Commission’s engineering office, said the Connecticut blast hasn’t changed the way the commission is evaluating the Carlsbad proposal, or others, because the agency already places a high importance on safety.
The commission has the authority to license power plants in the state. Two of the commission’s five members held a hearing in Carlsbad from Feb. 1-4, gathering information on all aspects of the plant.
NRG has proposed the plant on its 95 acres west of Interstate 5 and north of Cannon Road, and east of the coastal railroad tracks. It owns and operates the Encina Power Station on the same property, closer to the ocean.
City officials oppose the project. They say the location is no longer suitable for heavy industry. Carlsbad fire officials told the commission last week that the proposed access road encircling the plant would be too narrow, limiting firefighters’ access in an emergency.
However, NRG’s safety experts testified that the plant’s concrete-and-steel construction would render the structure practically noncombustible. Valves installed along the plant’s natural-gas lines would enable workers to cut the supply should a fire erupt, and thus prevent its spread, they said.
Frank Collins, an NRG safety expert, told commissioners that the control measures would be so sophisticated that “the Fire Department is a backup to fire-suppression systems on large fires.”
“Their testimony would indicate to me that maybe they don’t have the same degree of concern or appreciation for the impact of any incident,” Crawford said.
“We’re in the worst-day-of-your-life business and need to get the upper hand. It really says to me, OK, we’re really on the right track on this,” Crawford said, in reference to the explosion.
NRG’s Hoffmann said the company is well aware that disasters happen, and that’s why the plant would have built-in detection, suppression and monitoring systems. He called the Fire Department’s statements about potential danger “wild speculation” and said Encina’s safety record is exemplary.
When questioned last week, Carlsbad fire operations Chief Chris Heiser testified that there have been few recent incidents at Encina. The worst accident was in 1976, when six people died in a crane accident, he said.
Recent reports from Middletown indicate that gas may have vented outside the building into an enclosed area, where welding equipment ignited it.
The Connecticut disaster is prompting calls by residents elsewhere in the country to challenge power plants. Opponents of a proposed gas-fired plant in Brockton, Mass., jammed a state legislative hearing Tuesday, urging lawmakers to block its construction.
California Energy Commission officials hesitated this week to draw conclusions about Sunday’s explosion, saying they want to see the results of an investigation first. However, they said initial reports from Connecticut raised some concerns, such as the procedures used in venting the gas.
“The commission doesn’t allow venting gas into a confined space,” said Layton, the commission’s engineering office manager. “You would vent on a day that would make sure there isn’t a confined area (that would) lead to such an event.”
He also said it wasn’t clear how closely Connecticut officials monitored the venting. He said California requires a chief building officer and a safety monitor to be present for gas venting, and that it didn’t appear a monitor was there.
Layton said commissioners are familiar with the safety debate at the Carlsbad plant. The commission is expected to make a final decision on the proposed plant by the end of the year.
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