"I think it's been absolutely horrible the way they've treated us this whole entire time," said Tara Carey during a press conference at the law offices of Swartz & Swartz.

"We knew it was a gas explosion. Everyone could smell gas that night. That's what it was. For them to just keep denying it, not admitting that it was (a gas explosion), it's been awful," Tara Carey said.

In a report released Wednesday, the state Department of Telecommunications and Energy said NStar may have violated state and federal regulations at the 65 Main St. home prior to the July 24, 2002, explosion.

NStar visited the home nine times prior to the explosion, including a service call for a gas odor complaint, said Edward Swartz, one of the couple's attorneys.

Violet Carey, 5, and her sister Iris, 4, died when the blast leveled the three-story building. Rescue workers pulled Tara and Heath Carey from the rubble. Ten other people in the building also survived.

In a letter addressed to DTE Chairman Paul Afonso, NStar yesterday asked DTE to issue a public statement explaining that the cause of the Hopkinton accident is not the subject of the report. The letter also notes that a previous report authored by a DTE consultant concluded NStar equipment was not responsible for the blast.

"While I completely disagree with the findings in the Notice, I find it completely inexcusable that the Department allowed these documents to be prepared and released in such a way as to create the public impression that NStar Gas was in any way responsible for causing this terrible tragedy," Thomas May, NStar chairman, president and CEO, wrote in the letter.

Swartz, who has more than 40 years' experience in gas explosion litigation, said the DTE report findings are "scary" and warned of "time bombs" in the basements of gas customers.

"On all of those visits, they didn't do what was prescribed by law, which was to do a survey as to the rust components of any of the gas utility facilities in that basement, (or) to do a proper inspection to adequately warn the residents of that home as to what they're faced with. And all we hear today from this utility is the cry that, 'We didn't do it,'" Swartz said.

The Careys have filed a $50 million wrongful death suit against NStar, their landlord and Holden-based pipe fitting manufacturer Inner-Tite Corp. on the grounds those parties acted negligently, but lawyers said changes could be made based on forthcoming depositions.

Damp basement conditions left parts of the gas equipment, including an Inner-Tite Corp. pipe fitting, "rusted through and through," lawyers said.

"We believe that, due to the extreme corrosion on this piece of equipment, it was so degraded that it came apart before the accident, resulting in the gas leak," co-counsel Alan Cantor said of the pipe fitting.

The DTE report also said NStar failed to:

• Keep records to show service line segments installed in 1974 and 1979 were tested to set a maximum allowable operating pressure, or MAOP.
  
• Monitor the steel service line in the basement of the building for corrosion in the five-year period prior to the explosion. All exposed lines are required by state law to be tested every three years.
  
• Conduct leakage surveys of its service lines, which are required at least once a year.

The DTE has proposed NStar pay a $200,000 fine and change procedures to ensure the tracking of potential gas leaks.

"I don't think we'll ever accept the fact that Iris and Violet died. But I think we want to bring them some kind of peace. I just hope NStar learns from this mistake. This was a big mistake. It cost the lives of our children that we'll never get back or see again," said Tara Carey, fighting tears.

The couple's son, Lexington, was born last month, a year after Heath Carey underwent a vasectomy reversal.

"You wake and everything, everything you had is just gone. You have to build your life back up, but when your only two children are dead, there's really nothing there to keep you going," Heath Carey said.

Asked if NStar could do or say anything to alleviate the situation in any way, Tara Carey replied, "I don't know."

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at 508-626-4416 or lcrimald@cnc.com