Something to think about over the weekend...

I spent all day Thursday at Millstone Nuclear Power plant facility in Waterford covering the day-long conference on what should be done to insure the Groton sub base is never again targeted for closure. There were some pretty good ideas coming from the discussion. It will be interesting to see how many of them get implemented. I'm not sure a lot of folks see this as a priority. There is this feeling that the threat is over. Three times the base has been targeted, and three times the state has won the argument to keep it untouched. But this last fight was the toughest, and Connecticut was lucky it won. I don't think the Pentagon will be as sloppy the next time.

And this little tidbit, which I think is going to become a major issue in the coming weeks.

Insurance Commissioner Susan Cogswell has adopted new guidelines that effectively allows Andover (insurance) Companies to require property owners within .75 miles of Long Island Sound - or "portions of major rivers - to install hurricane shutters on their property. We're not talking plywood, we're talking steel - and big time expenses. And if property owners don't, the insurance company can simply cancel their policy.

The decision affects about 2,000 people in the state, and could cost as much as $100,000 to comply. (That's a high estimate, and it's not really clear how many folks would have to come up with that much money.) But it is a major expense for folks.

I think you're going to see a lot of pressure put on Cogswell to reconsider that change.