The News Dispatch

Sparks fly over NIPSCO's response to storm
By Rick A. Richards, The News-Dispatch

 


Union, utility have differing views

Sometime over the next few days, officials at Northern Indiana Public Service Co. will do a post-mortem on last week's storm that rocked the area.

Tom Cuddy, a spokesman for NIPSCO, said it's too early to say what conclusions may come from that examination. “No two storms are ever alike. This one blew in off the lake and had winds clocked at 106 mph,” he said. “And even though it was isolated, the damage was extensive.

“In some areas, we essentially had to rebuild the power grid,” said Cuddy. In LaPorte County, he said, more than 60 NIPSCO poles had to be replaced. In Beverly Shores, he said another 17 poles had to be replaced.

“And that's not a simple job,” Cuddy said. “It takes a lot of time and work.”

While Cuddy said NIPSCO “managed well” in the storm's aftermath, the utility's union that represents line crews disagreed.

 

David Chlebek of Local 12775 of the United Steelworkers of America said Thursday he was so upset at

the utility's response that he wanted to apologize to customers.

“I apologize for senior management dropping the ball,” said Chlebek, who added that in his opinion,

electricity should have been restored to all customers no later than Friday evening last week, two days after the storm.

Chlebek and Shawn Lindsey, a lineman and assistant union griever from Hammond, accused NIPSCO

 senior management of not listening to line crews, of not utilizing all resources available, of not dispatching available crews until 24 hours or more after the storm hit, of not providing direction for tree trimmers and

 others responding to electrical outages, and of sending the wrong electrical blueprints to Beverly Shores,

delaying efforts to restore electricity.

Cuddy emphatically denied the accusation, saying they were “unfounded.”

“All of those are untrue,” Cuddy said. “This sounds like Monday morning quarterbacking to me.”

“All of the employees at NIPSCO were focused on restoring power quickly and safely following last

week's devastating storm. There was extensive damage to our electric distribution system throughout

northern LaPorte and Porter counties and we had all available crews and contractors working around

the clock to clear trees, make repairs and rebuild the system.

“Our plan to restore power and communicate with customers was executed and managed well,” said

Cuddy. “For the union to suggest otherwise - and not bring their concerns to us through the appropriate

channels - is counterproductive. As we do after all major storms, we will be conducting an assessment

in an effort to learn how we can perform better next time.”

Chlebek, though, said he was aware of work crews that could have been dispatched to storm-ravaged

north Porter County instead being sent out on Saturday to install underground electric lines to homes under construction in Crown Point.

Chlebek said that of 200 linemen available for NIPSCO to use in the emergency, no more than half were

ever activated.

“Senior management has no plan,” Chlebek said. “It would seem to me that a year after Katrina, a company like  like NIPSCO would have a disaster plan in place and use it.”

Cuddy said those accusations were not true, but that he was not willing to get into a “point by point”

discussion of the issues in the media.

Lindsey said if there is a plan he's never seen it and that if one does exist, it didn't work.

Chlebek said the union will conduct its own review of the storm and that he hopes to be able to talk with company officials about what went right and what went wrong.

“So far,” he said, “we haven't been invited to that meeting.” Cuddy said that as far as he knows the union

 has not gone through the proper channels to make its concerns known.

Contact City Editor Rick A. Richards at rrichards@thenewsdispatch.com.

 

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