By STEVEN VIERA
Staff Writer
MORRISTOWN — Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) filed a petition with New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities (BPU) seeking approval for its proposed Monmouth County Reliability Project.
The utility company announced this action yesterday through a press release.
The $111 million project calls for the construction of a 10-mile span of power lines, which could reach heights of 210 feet, linking an electrical substation in Aberdeen to another in Red Bank and following New Jersey Transit’s railroad right-of-way. According to JCP&L, the 230-kilovolt transmission line would improve service for nearly 214,000 customers in Monmouth County.
The petition, filed on Aug. 9, includes nearly 700 pages of exhibits, testimony, and other documents that address the need for the project, engineering elements, potential effects on health and property values, environmental impacts and more.
“At JCP&L, we’re committed to delivering the dependable electricity our customers need to power their homes, businesses, and communities,” JCP&L President Jim Fakult said in the press release. “This filing marks the completion of many months of planning, design, and engineering analysis and contains additional detailed information about the project.”
A number of municipalities, including Red Bank and Aberdeen, have passed resolutions opposing the Monmouth County Reliability Project. The Bayshore Conference of Mayors, which represents nine towns such as Middletown, Hazlet and Keyport, also came out against the project.
Citizens have organized Residents Against Giant Electric (RAGE) to provide grassroots opposition to JCP&L and have challenged the project on the grounds of harmful health effects, detrimental impacts on property values and other factors. RAGE successfully spearheaded a campaign to stop a similar project by JCP&L in the 1980s.
A full copy of JCP&L’s petition is available on its website: https://firstenergycorp.com/content/customer/jersey_central_power_light/regulatory.html.