Microsoft PowerPoint - PJMDOCS-#418679-v1-TEAC-5-9-2007-part-one

Day before yesterday, New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities met to make determinations on the Motions for Intervention of a large number of parties.  Stop the Lines, of course being one!  They’d objected to our Intervention:

PSEG Response to Intervention Motions

PSEG Response to Escrow Motions

… but had no objection to my Pro Hac Vice… go figure.  And the feeling I had from the BPU is that they were honestly encouraging interventions.  SO, what happened?

State: 17 groups may intervene in PSE&G’s power line proposal


By Colleen O’Dea • Daily Record • April 27, 2009

All 17 groups that sought to be part of the hearing process on Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s proposed transmission line project may do so, the state Board of Public Utilities decided today.

Meeting in Newark, the board also directed PSE&G to meet with the intervening parties – several municipalities, environmental organizations and citizens groups – to negotiate an agreement on the establishment of an escrow account from which the groups could pay for expert witnesses.

“Super,” is how Dave Slaperud of the 300-member Stop the Lines, one of six groups the utility had sought to bar from intervening in its application to add 500 kilovolt lines along a 46-mile transmission corridor from Pennsylvania through Morris County to Roseland, described the BPU’s decision.

“We would have been really surprised if we had been denied intervener status,” said Slaperud. “There are so many of us living along the line who are affected and not all the municipalities are getting involved in the process.”

Among the government bodies that are involved are East Hanover, Montville, Parsippany and Byram townships and the Montville Board of Education. Interveners are allowed to request discovery documents, cross examine witnesses and present their own expert testimony.

And more:

Groups cleared to speak at powerline hearings

Groups cleared to speak at power-line hearings

by Danny Teigman/The Star-Ledger
Tuesday April 28, 2009, 6:00 AM

The state Board of Public Utilities denied a bid yesterday by Public Service Electric and Gas to prevent some environmental and activist groups from participating in upcoming Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line hearings.

Of the 14 groups seeking to be heard during the session, PSE&G argued that three — Stop the Lines, Fredon Parents Against the Lines, and several environmental groups known collectively as “Proposed Environmental Intervenors” — are not directly affected by the project and do not meet the state’s legal standard that would allow them to participate.

The 4-0 decision by the BPU means all the groups will be able to officially voice their concerns about construction of the transmission line.

PSE&G spokeswoman Karen Johnson said in a statement afterward, “We’re eager to begin the next steps so that a decision in this important reliability project can be reached.”

If approved by the BPU, the Susquehanna-Roseland project would add a 500-kilovolt electric line to the already existing 230-kilovolt line. It would run 130 miles from Berwick, Pa., to Roseland, including 46 miles in New Jersey. The $750 million project includes the construction of two substations.

“I think it’s extremely important that citizens have the opportunity to participate in these hearings and feel that they are represented,” said BPU commissioner Joseph Fiordaliso, who was elected to oversee the proceedings.

Johnson said in her statement, “In allowing all interested parties to intervene, the board expects the process to proceed without delay.”

and…

Opponents can intervene in PSE&G Highlands project hearing

Monday, April 27, 2009

BY RICHARD COWEN
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

NEWARK — Opponents of PSE&G’s massive upgrade of power lines in the Highlands Region on Monday won the right to cross-examine witnesses when hearings on the proposed Susquehanna-Roseland project are held this year.

The Board of Public Utilities decided that a coalition of 18 environmental groups, municipalities, school districts and companies can intervene once the hearings begin this summer. By allowing them to intervene, the BPU is allowing the coalition to call its own witnesses and to rebut expert testimony presented by Public Service Electric & Gas in favor of the project.

PSE&G seeks BPU permission to double the height and voltage of its power lines along the existing 45-mile right-of-way between the Delaware Water Gap and Roseland in Essex County. Among the Morris County towns affected would be Kinnelon, Parsippany-Troy Hills and Montville.

The utility says the $2 billion project is absolutely necessary if the state is to meet its growing electricity needs by 2012.

But the coalition, represented by the Eastern Law Environmental Center in Newark, says erecting 150-foot transmission towers will mar the Highlands landscape and require the chopping of many trees. They also say upgrading the power lines from 230,000 to 500,000 volts would increase public reliance on so-called “dirty” energy, such as coal.

The coalition also wants the BPU to order PSE&G to put money in escrow to pay for expert witnesses sympathetic to the coalition’s cause. The utility has balked at that, saying it is being asked to fund the opposition with ratepayers’ dollars.

Julia LaMense, attorney for the Eastern Environmental Law Center, countered, “If PSE&G believes that upgrading this line is reasonably necessary for the public welfare, then why should it be afraid of experts who get retained to review all of the information?”

Karen Johnson, a PSE&G spokeswoman, said it would be “unprecedented” for the utility to fund the opposition to its own plan. The BPU says it will rule on the escrow issue at its May 14 meeting. Until then, the BPU has asked both sides to meet and try and work something out.

The BPU is required to determine whether the Susquehanna-Roseland project is “reasonably necessary” for the public welfare. After a series of hearings, the BPU anticipates rendering its decision in December.

But PSE&G also needs permission from the mountain region’s overseeing Highlands Council to move forward. The Highlands Council, tasked with safeguarding the state’s premier water-generating lands, has already determined that the plan violates the Highlands Regional Master Plan adopted last summer, and it is now considering a waiver.

NEWARK — Opponents of PSE&G’s massive upgrade of power lines in the Highlands Region on Monday won the right to cross-examine witnesses when hearings on the proposed Susquehanna-Roseland project are held this year.

The Board of Public Utilities decided that a coalition of 18 environmental groups, municipalities, school districts and companies can intervene once the hearings begin this summer. By allowing them to intervene, the BPU is allowing the coalition to call its own witnesses and to rebut expert testimony presented by Public Service Electric & Gas in favor of the project.

PSE&G seeks BPU permission to double the height and voltage of its power lines along the existing 45-mile right-of-way between the Delaware Water Gap and Roseland in Essex County. Among the Morris County towns affected would be Kinnelon, Parsippany-Troy Hills and Montville.

The utility says the $2 billion project is absolutely necessary if the state is to meet its growing electricity needs by 2012.

But the coalition, represented by the Eastern Law Environmental Center in Newark, says erecting 150-foot transmission towers will mar the Highlands landscape and require the chopping of many trees. They also say upgrading the power lines from 230,000 to 500,000 volts would increase public reliance on so-called “dirty” energy, such as coal.

The coalition also wants the BPU to order PSE&G to put money in escrow to pay for expert witnesses sympathetic to the coalition’s cause. The utility has balked at that, saying it is being asked to fund the opposition with ratepayers’ dollars.

Julia LaMense, attorney for the Eastern Environmental Law Center, countered, “If PSE&G believes that upgrading this line is reasonably necessary for the public welfare, then why should it be afraid of experts who get retained to review all of the information?”

Karen Johnson, a PSE&G spokeswoman, said it would be “unprecedented” for the utility to fund the opposition to its own plan. The BPU says it will rule on the escrow issue at its May 14 meeting. Until then, the BPU has asked both sides to meet and try and work something out.

The BPU is required to determine whether the Susquehanna-Roseland project is “reasonably necessary” for the public welfare. After a series of hearings, the BPU anticipates rendering its decision in December.

But PSE&G also needs permission from the mountain region’s overseeing Highlands Council to move forward. The Highlands Council, tasked with safeguarding the state’s premier water-generating lands, has already determined that the plan violates the Highlands Regional Master Plan adopted last summer, and it is now considering a waiver.

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