Officials meet in Morristown, but still no answers on library explosion and underground fire

What caused the Morristown & Township Library to explode in 2010?

And why did an underground utility vault catch fire beneath a South Street sidewalk earlier this month?

An hour-long, closed-door meeting Tuesday involving utilities representatives, state regulators and elected officials did not answer either question.

Mayor Tim Dougherty, who hosted the meeting, and state Assemblyman Anthony M. Bucco, who attended along with his father, state Sen. Anthony Bucco (both R-25th Dist.), characterized the session as productive and cooperative.

They reiterated their belief that the state Board of Public Utilities will get to the bottom of both incidents when ongoing investigations are concluded.

“They will come up with a report for us regarding the utilities and the safety of that library for the public,” the Mayor said.

Nobody could say when either investigation will be completed, however. There never has been any official word about what caused a library explosion in 1994.

The present library investigation is being conducted by Travelers Insurance, the library’s insurer. Jersey Central Power & Light and Public Service Electric & Gas both have denied responsibility for the May 3, 2010, explosion that shut down the library for eight months. Two wings remain closed and are not expected to reopen until late this year or early in 2012.

Two damaged transformers, meanwhile, have been removed from the sidewalk vault in front of Walgreen’s, scene of a smoky underground fire on June 9. Engineers from JCP&L and the state BPU will examine one of the transformers for clues to what caused the failure, said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano. An oil leak is suspected of fueling the fire.

Assemblyman Bucco said after Tuesday’s meeting that he remains confident the BPU will receive all the information it needs to provide answers in the library case.

“They’ll have everything they need to make an educated and informed decision. And that’s all we can ask for,” the assemblyman said.

He added that it was better to err on the side of thoroughness. At the same time, “we want to make sure the pressure continues to be placed” on the utility and the BPU to reach a conclusion.

But the Mayor acknowledged the possibility that the case will become embroiled in litigation.

The BPU lacks subpoena power, and has no forensic engineers, according to board spokesman Greg Reinert.

“We are not an investigative body at all,” he told MorristownGreen.com. Greg was not present at the meeting.

While the board spokesman said he assumes the BPU will get everything it requests in the library investigation, he echoed the Mayor’s observation: “It may get tied up in litigation.”

If necessary, Greg said, the BPU can hire forensic engineers.  Regarding the underground fire, he said, BPU engineers will watch as JCP&L engineers dismantle the faulty transformer.

“We review the reports, we are there during the investigation,” he said. “We have engineers there viewing what effects there were on the equipment, and coming up with what they believe was at fault.”

The BPU sent and an electrical engineer and a special counsel to Tuesday’s meeting. JCP&L’s team included Area Manager Stan Prater, engineer Don Richards, Director of Government Affairs Julie Holman and Director of Rates Larry Sweeney.

They left the meeting without commenting.

PSE&G was not invited to the meeting because the focus was intended to be the JCP&L vault fire, Mayor Dougherty said.

Over the years, Morristown has been plagued by exploding manhole covers and utility fires. But JCP&L’s Morristown network meets industry standards, according to an auditor’s report the utility gave to town hall this week.

The network “is designed and maintained in general accordance with current industry accepted practices and methods,” said the audit, performed by Power Cable Consultants of Ballston Spa, NY. It included November inspections of manholes and vaults.

“During these inspections, no gross defects were observed and the construction and work methods observed were comparable to those in other utility underground systems,” the report states.