Big win for Stop the Poles!
August 17th, 2009
Today a big win for Stop the Poles! The New Jersey Dept. of Transportation said a big resounding “NO!” to Atlantic City Electric’s request to use DOT Right-of-Way to stick it to the community!
Atlantic City Electric is part of PEPCO Holdings Inc, a big electric conglomerate in the Mid-Atlantic. They (the big boys, not ACE, I’m sure) decided they wanted to build a 230kV loop around the area to reinforce the system, in expectation of massive power transfers up from Salem, right ACE?
So they just up and decided to build it. Above are the transmission lines built on Bridgeton Road, one of those “elevator” construction jobs, where there’s no poles, and one day, someone “pushes the button” and there they are in all their ugliness. No notice, no consultation, no fanfare, no nothing,one day they saw them being pounded into the ground, going over fields, roads, right across Bridgeton Road from homes that are up against the road on the other side, so close it’s disgusting and downright dangerous … there’s zero clear zone from the road, EMF right there and nowhere to go … and then there’s the substation.
The substation is lit up like an inter-gallactic space station and hums so loudly that the neighbors are losing sleep. It’s been a community point of contention with Atlantic City Electric ever since they appeared.
And Atlantic City Electric wanted to double the mess by doing the same thing along Highway 77. Highway 77 already has some smaller wood poles, and along Bridgeton Road and along Highway 77, cars are regularly careening off the road and there’s wreck after wreck there. Newer and bigger poles is not a good idea.
So the DOT told ACE where NOT to stick their poles! Looks like it’s time for the Atlantic City Electric folks to head back to PEPCO for a little training in application procedures and public relations! Not that PEPCO knows…