Critics Voice Concerns About JCP&L’s Proposed Transmission Line    

919

By John Burton and Joseph Sapia

As the Jersey Central Power and Light Company held information sessions on its proposal to build a high-voltage transmission line between Aberdeen and Red Bank, residents and officials raised concerns about such things as health, decrease in property value and aesthetics.
Amy H. Handlin, now a member of the state Assembly representing the five towns the line would pass through – Aberdeen, Hazlet, Holmdel, Middletown and Red Bank – recalled fighting a similar JCP&L proposal about 25 years ago.
“The saying, ‘Those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it,’” said Handlin, while attending a JCP&L information session at Brookdale Community College Tuesday, June 7. “This is the exact same project.”
JCP&L now serves the area with two 230-kilovolt lines coming up from the south along a railroad freight line from the area of the Monmouth County Reclamation Center on the Wall-Tinton Falls-Colts Neck boundary to Red Bank. If one or two of those lines went out, 214,000 customers could be without electricity for four days or more, said JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano.
“This adds reliability and redundancy,”Morano said.

Hazlet homeowner Scott Van Velson shows where his property is relation to the Proposed JCP&L 10-mile power line project. Van Velson said at a JCP&L public session he is opposing the project believing there are health issues and it will negatively impact his property values. Photo: John Burton
Hazlet homeowner Scott Van Velson shows where his property is relation to the Proposed JCP&L 10-mile power line project. Van Velson said at a JCP&L public session he is opposing the project believing there are health issues and it will negatively impact his property values. Photo: John Burton

The proposed $75 million line would run for 9.7 miles along NJ Transit’s North Jersey Coast Line commuter railroad right of way – from a JCP&L substation across the railroad from Nutmeg Road in Aberdeen to a substation at Henry Street and the railroad in Red Bank.
The line would be carried on single towers – like the letter “F” but with a third horizontal line – up to 170-feet-tall.
“The tower height will depend on the topography,” Morano said. “The average is 140 (feet).”
He said the railroad right of way was chosen because it already has a public use on it, the railroad.
The JCP&L timetable calls for the company to formally apply for the lines to the state Board of Public Utilities(BPU) in the coming weeks, along with applying for the project to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Construction would begin in June 2017 and the line would be in service as of June 2019.
Once JCP&L files its BPU petition, the BPU can schedule hearings on the project in the affected areas. The hearings are for formal testimony, whereas the information sessions – held in the area Tuesday and Wednesday, June 7 and 8 – are more informal presentations.
While people raised concerned about the hazards of electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) associated with power lines, Morano said national and international scientists, along with health agencies, have found no long-term health effects associated with EMFs.
But Steve Lunanuova, who lives in Middletown’s Ivy Hill section, had a different view on the health impact.
“Every expert we talked to has said, ‘Don’t live under those wires,’” Lunanuova said.
Joe Fredericks, who lives near the train station in Middletown, objects to the project over the health concerns and property values.
Fredericks, who served as tax collector in Weehawken for decades, said the lines will have an effect on property value. He said, “I don’t care what they say, nobody’s going to move there” if the transmission line is built.
Fredericks said his neighborhood has no overhead utility lines.
“That’s one of the attractions when we moved here,” Fredericks said. “I had young kids.”
Karen Amecangelo, lives near the railroad in the Poricy Park area. She raised concerns about health and property values, along with the impact to the wild habitat at Poricy Park.
“I would hate to see it (the environment) destroyed by something like that,” Amecangelo said.
As for the towers carrying the transmission line, Amecangelo said, “Who’s to say they’re not going to build on that, cell towers?”
Dan and Kathy Green are retirees living in the Poricy Park area. The Greens ask, why not run the line underground or in a non-residential area?
“Part of our nest egg is built on the equity of our home,” said Dan Green.
Kathy Green said she did not like the answers she was getting at the Brookdale session.
“They’re like pro forma answers,” Kathy Green said.
Chrys Garnant, who lives in the Middletown Village area, fought the power line proposal 25 years ago. She raised concerns about health, property values and how the lines would be out of place in the historic Village.
Handlin said “certainly our goal” would be to stop the project before JCP&L even filed its petition.
Declan J. O’Scanlon Jr., the other Assembly member who represents the area, said he attended the session at Brookdale “to get information; I don’t pre-judge anything.”
“Our area needs more power and more resiliency (against loss of electricity),” O’Scanlon said. “Accepting there is a need, what’s the best way to deliver it, (in) the least impactful way?”
Morano estimated 150 people attended the Brookdale session.
“I think what we’re hearing from people is a lot of questions,” Morano said.
The sentiments were much the same as JCP&L held its second information session on Wednesday morning at VFW Post 2179, in Middletown’s Port Monmouth section.
“Basically this will run in my backyard,” said Scott Van Velson.
Van Velson has lived for 42 years in his Hazlet home, which backs up along the NJ Transit commuter line – the proposed route for this additional electrical line. “I have various concerns,” he said, ticking off the issues: “I have a problem with the magnetic field,” that will emanate from the towers; the impact on wildlife found in undeveloped property in Van Velson’s area; and what this could mean for his property values. “Lord only knows how much I will lose,” on his home value, he feared.
Judy Musa, who lives off of Middeltown’s Kings Highway, found this proposal “disturbing,” citing many of the same concerns as Van Velson and others who have attended the public sessions. She raised health concerns and said it would be “ugly.”
And given that JCP&L had unsuccessfully attempted this 25 years ago, “What makes them think it’s any less disturbing now?” she asked.
“We know it’s an emotional issue for residents,” Morano acknowledged on Wednesday morning. Given that, “Our goal is to provide them with as much information as possible,” at these sessions, having company professionals available for questions,” he added.
JCP&L had withdrawn its previous application more than two decades ago for a similar project, Morano acknowledged, but could not offer an explanation for the company’s action after all these years.