February 9, 2012

Hot Report: Two-Storm Panel Report on 2011 Outages

OLR Report 2012-R-0053 provides a summary of the Two-Storm Panel's report to the governor, with a particular emphasis on any issues and recommendations that fall under the Energy & Technology Committee's jurisdiction.

In the wake of 2011's Tropical Storm Irene and October Nor'easter, Governor Malloy tasked the “Two-Storm Panel” with evaluating the state's preparation and response to the storms and making recommendations for ways to improve future disaster preparedness and response. The panel issued its report on January 9, 2012.

The report contains 82 recommendations on subjects and issues that fall within the jurisdictions of several legislative committees. This report focuses on those recommendations which could concern the Energy & Technology Committee. Many of these issues could require legislative action by the committee, while others could be addressed through administrative action by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), or the Connecticut Siting Council. Recommendations that could fall under the committee's jurisdiction involved the utility companies, tree trimming, infrastructure hardening, general state issues, communication and information sharing, municipal issues, geographical information systems, and climate change and rising sea levels.

For more details, read the full report.