Senator Calls for Access to Blast Site for Federal Agency

MIDDLETOWN, Conn. (AP) _ A New Jersey U.S. Senator wants authorities to grant a federal agency that investigates chemical accidents immediate access to the site of a fatal power plant explosion in Connecticut.

U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg sent a letter Tuesday to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, asking it to allow the U.S. Chemical Safety Board _ which he helped create _ access to evidence and witnesses at the site of Sunday's explosion in Middletown.

Local authorities have said the board could access the site once criminal investigators cleared them.

The safety board has done extensive research on natural gas line purging since an explosion last year at a Slim Jim factory in North Carolina killed four people. They've identified other explosions caused by workers who were venting gas lines inside buildings.