December 17, 2007

Chick-A-Boom: Are Bredesens Aiming to Beat New Blasting Regulations?

A commenter at a previous post Monday [The Bredesen Boom], suggests that Gov. Phil Bredesen and his wife may wish to start construction of the $12 million taxpayer-funded underground ballroom at the Governor's Mansion before the end of 2007 because tough new regulations on construction blasting go into effect Jan. 1, 2008.

I checked and, sure enough, Public Chapter 231 for the year 2007 indeed does amend Tennessee Code Title 68, Chapter 105, Part 1, to revise several provisions relative to blasters, and its effective date is January 1, 2008. The bill summary says the new law...

Requires the collection and maintenance of specified records regarding drilling for blasting operations; adds requirements for air blasting; requires blasting firms to offer a pre-blast survey at no charge to the owners or occupants of specified structures when the standard table of distance is exceeded; revises registration requirements for blasting and age limits for registration; requires independent limited blasters to maintain liability insurance; and makes numerous technical changes regarding explosives and blasting.

Thin-skinned as ever, Bredesen Monday blamed criticism of the ballroom project not on legitimate objections to the huge and upward-spiraling cost of the project, but on partisanship and a desire of some to "rub dirt" on him and his wife. The City Paper has the quotes:

First Lady Andrea Conte spearheaded the Executive Residence project. Bredesen said Conte has discovered that "no good deed goes unpunished" and was not pleased the construction of Conservation Hall was beginning to become political.

"Somebody sees this as an opportunity to rub a little dirt on her, a little dirt on me," Bredesen told reporters. "But in the end, I think people will be sensible about this. It's not for her own purposes. She's trying to do the right thing here and to leave something for the state to be able to use effectively for a long time in the future."

And then we learned that the Bredesen administration is planning to run roughshod over the local planning commission in Oak Hill, asserting that because the state owns the property it doesn't have to abide by local regulations.

Arrogance, lies and taxpayers' pockets being picked - that's why people are upset about this, governor. And not just Republicans. Opposition to this project is not a Republican project, it's real, it's grassroots, it crosses party lines and it's got legs.

I have a hunch we don't yet know all the details of the ballroom "bunker" project and that, as more bombshells drop, Bredesen will be wishing he already had a bunker in which to hide...