Irene Hearing Reconvenes Monday

Members of the general public impacted by Tropical Storm Irene can voice their concerns about the state’s response to the storm during a second daylong hearing the General Assembly will reconvene Monday.

The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m., in Room 2C of the Legislative Office Building in Hartford. General public comments will be heard until noon. Afterward, representatives of labor unions, the state’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the Office of the Consumer Counsel and energy security firms will testify.

Utility company representatives will be asked back for additional questioning by the legislative panel hosting the hearing. The panel will then discuss its next steps based on the information gleaned in the hearing.

Those who can’t attend are being asked to submit questions and comments to Facebook and Twitter accounts established for the hearing. This marks the first time the legislature has accepted testimony via social media sites. The hearing will also be broadcast on the state’s television station, CT-N.

The hearing is being held before a combined special committee of the legislature’s Energy & Technology, Public Safety, Labor and Public Employees, and Planning & Development committees. The panel opened the hearing last week with testimony from utility company leaders, telecommunication representatives and town officials. While the leaders of CL&P and United Illuminating testified last week that their firms’ responses to Tropical Storm Irene, which hit the state Aug. 26, was appropriate and timely, town leaders castigated the response, saying both utilities were slow in responding to the outages and in communicating with local leaders.