Big Meeting Wednesday Night on JCPL's Power Line Plan

MIDDLETOWN, NJ - If you have any thoughts on JCP&L's Monmouth County Reliability Project — whether you're for it or against it — where are you going to be Wednesday night? At the Middletown North high school auditorium.

Don't underestimate it: This Wednesday night meeting will very likely determine the fate of the Monmouth County Reliability Project. The testimony Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson will hear tomorrow night will heavily influence whether or not she recommends the power lines be built.

Hundreds are expected to flood Middletown High School North. Doors open at 6:30; Judge Cookson will call the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Carpool and park at Tindall Park or the Westminster Presbyterian Church; the meeting will be packed. You do not need to sign up in advance to speak; you sign up to speak when you get there, an Administrative Law spokesman told Patch. Everyone who gets to speak will likely have the opportunity to do so, although Judge Cookson may limit testimony to just a few minutes per person in the interest of time.

Jersey Central Power & Light, under their parent company First Energy, seeks to build a 10-mile long, high-voltage power line from Aberdeen to Red Bank, along the North Jersey Coast rail tracks. Towns such as Holmdel, Middletown, Aberdeen and Hazlet are passionately against it. The power lines will cut through back yards, destroying property values, and may expose residents to potentially cancerous electromagnetic radiation. As Patch has reported, young children are particularly at risk of radiation exposure.

However, the town of Freehold and Fair Haven's mayor support the project, saying it will improve electricity service in the area. For example, roughly 55,000 customers — most of them in Monmouth and Ocean counties — lost power at some point Monday due to the nor'easter.

Perhaps most significantly, the New Jersey state Division of Rate Counsel came out against the project, questioning whether there is really a need for more power lines on the Monmouth County grid. Members of Residents Against Giant Electric (RAGE) say the project is more about JCP&L making money off transmission lines than actually improving electricity. JCP&L disputes that.

JCP&L needs approval from the five-person state Board of Public Utilities before they can build the lines. They also need approval from NJ Transit to use the North Jersey Coast right of way. Judge Cookson has been called it to hear testimony and decide whether or not she recommends the power lines be approved.

"It's a very big deal," said Rachael Iannucci Kanapka, a Middletown resident and RAGE founder. "This is it. It's the culmination of what we've been working towards for the past seven months. Now's our chance to step up to the plate and show them Monmouth County does not want this project."

The Office of Administrative Law will hold a second round of hearings in mid-April. These are private hearings, closed to the public, at which JCP&L attorneys will present evidence supporting the project. That will be countered by RAGE's own attorney, and the attorney retained by Middletown, Holmdel, Hazlet and Aberdeen.

Judge Cookson then has up to 90 days to make her recommendation on whether or not the BPU should approve or reject the Monmouth County Reliability Project. The BPU could either accept her opinion, reject it or modify it. From there, either RAGE or any municipality could appeal the Board's final decision.

"We may not have a decision on this until late summer or even early fall," Kanapka said.

JCP&L was required to advertise the January 25 meeting. Here is what they published in local papers and sent out to residents who live within 200 feet of the proposed lines:

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that the Office of Administrative Law has scheduled a public hearing on the Verified Petition under BPU Docket No. E016080750 and OAL Docket No. PUC 12098-2016N, at the following time and place:
January 25, 2017 7:00 P.M.
Middletown High School North
63 Tindall Road
Middletown, NJ 07748
Members of the public will have an opportunity to be heard and/or to submit written comments or statements at the public hearing if they wish to do so. Persons requiring special accommodations because of disability should contact the Clerk of the Office of Administrative Law at (973) 648-7143 at least 48 hours prior to the scheduled hearing so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Written comments or statements may also be submitted directly to the Clerk of the Office of Administrative Law, 33 Washington Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102.

Past coverage:

Freehold Supports JCPL's Power Line Plan

Scientist Outlines Potential Risks Of JCPL Power Lines

Tears, Shouting at JCPL Meeting Wednesday Night in Hazlet