Legalectric

HA!  I love it when this happens.  Just before National Park Service public hearings (schedule below), PSEG screws up and an application gets tossed back in their face!

I’m representing Stop the Lines against PSEG”s Susquehanna-Roseland transmission project in New Jersey.

PSEG thought they’d be “smart,” and given the length and intensity of process for the federal environmental review of its proposal to cross the federally designated Wild & Scenic Delaware Water Gap with massive transmission…

… they tried to divide the line in half for its News Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection wetlands application and other DEP applications too.

First the DEP rejected that maneuver, short and sweet, and rejected their wetlands application:

PSEG Deficiency Letter July 28, 2010

Here’s the meat of it, first the funny part:

… and then, the substantive issue…

So then, PSEG withdraws their other DEP applications:

PSEG Letter of Withdrawal July 29, 2010

I love it when that happens… and what great timing.  Bring on the National Park Service hearings!

Here’s an Alert from the New Jersey Sierra Club:

Urge the National Park Service to Select the “No Action” Alternative!

The National Park Service will be hosting 3 public meetings to present the Preliminary Alternatives for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line as part of its NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) review for this project. The meetings will consist of an “open house” portion where information will be available and NPS staff can answer questions and a formal “public hearing” portion. The meetings will be held:

Tuesday, August 17
Fernwood Hotel and Resort
US 209 North
Bushkill, PA
Open House: 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Stroudsmoor Country Inn – Terraview
North 4th St
Stroudsburg, PA
Open House: 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Thursday, August 19, 2010
Farmstead Golf and Country Club
88 Lawrence Road
Lafayette, NJ
Open House: 2:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Public Hearing: 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

The proposed alternative routes can be viewed here.  Click on the “Preliminary Alternatives Newsletter” for details and mapping of the 6 proposed routes.

Please come to these meetings and voice your support for the “No Build Alternative”!  If you are unable to attend the hearings, comments can be submitted online here.  NPS will accept comments on these alternatives August 8- September 7.

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And word is getting out:

Opponents of powerline upgrade are happy that project is delayed

BY COLLEEN O’DEA • STAFF WRITER • August 5, 2010

Opponents are cheering the news that Public Service Electric and Gas Co.’s transmission line upgrade will be delayed by three years because of problems with environmental permits.

But they are still urging people to comment on the National Park Service’s proposed alternatives to the line, which would span 47 miles in New Jersey. Some of those options would bring the line south into areas of Morris County that are more congested.

The utility had hoped to begin work this summer to add 500-kilovolt lines on towers as high as 195 feet, along its existing 230-kilovolt Susquehanna-Roseland line. It received approval from the state Board of Public Utilities and was awaiting OKs from the state Department of Environmental Protection and NPS.

Last week, PSE&G’s second quarter earnings statement disclosed that the utility would not complete work on the eastern half of the line, from Hopatcong through portions of Morris County to Roseland, until 2014 and on the western section to the Delaware Water Gap until 2015.
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Yes, indeed, PSEG is making things work for us…

PSEG has announced through its 2Q report that the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line will be delayed until at least 2015.  Just like the Brookings line part of CapX 2020!  Funny how that works.

PSEG – 2nd Quarter – Press Release

Here’s what they said in this about D-E-L-A-Y of the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line – two little snippets:

Ralph Izzo indicated that PSE&G has notified the PJM Interconnection that the in-service date for the eastern portion of the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line has been delayed by 2 years to 2014 with the in-service date for the western portion of the line delayed until 2015. He added, “We are disappointed by the delay, but look forward to meeting the region’s reliability requirements in partnership with our regulators and PJM.”  The delays are due to on-going environmental permit reviews.
…

PSE&G notified PJM that it has not obtained certain environmental approvals that are required for completion of the Eastern and Western segments of the Susquehanna – Roseland transmission line. Consequently, at this time, we do not expect the Eastern portion of the line to be in service before June 2014, and we do not expect the Western portion to be in service before June 2015.

You can learn more about the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission project at www.stopthelines.com!

Interesting 2Q report, some pretty juicy dry numbers here, look how far down their net income was, and look at how their bottom line recovered — it’s those “excluded items” that make the difference:

As Business Week notes:

PSEG 2Q profit falls 21.5 percent

It’s hard to type that headline without two or three exclamation points!!!

Here’s the report from the Star-Ledger:

PSE&G delays construction of controversial Susquehanna-Roseland power line

Published: Friday, July 30, 2010, 4:14 PM
Brian T. Murray/The Star-Ledger

Public Service Electric & Gas announced this morning a three-year delay in completing its controversial Susquehanna-Roseland transmission lines, which will cut across New Jersey’s protected, water-rich Highlands.

PSE&G broke the news in its second-quarterly earnings report, explaining that obtaining environmental approvals has taken longer than anticipated. The announcement came just days after the state Department of Environmental Protection found the company’s wetlands permit applications incomplete.

Now, the $750 million power project the company hoped to complete by 2012 will not be done until 2015.

The New Jersey Highlands Coalition and the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club, two groups opposed to the project, said it may be the beginning of the end for the power line. But PSE&G said it plans to move forward, contending the power lines are needed to prevent blackouts and keep the region’s power grid reliable.

“We are disappointed by the delay, but we are going to work with the regulators. … We are still committed to constructing the line. It’s just going to be delayed,” said PSE&G spokeswoman Deann Muzikar.

Already approved by the state Board of Public Utilities and the New Jersey Highlands Council, the project involves a 500,000-volt transmission line along a 146-mile route between Pennsylvania and northern New Jersey and erecting 500-kilovolt transmission towers along a path where smaller, 230-kilovolt towers already exist. The main hurdle has been the National Park Service, which must approve a western leg of the line to run through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Middle Delaware National Scenic and Recreational River and the Appalachian National Scenic Trail.

PSE&G split the project into two segments earlier this year, hoping to at least begin construction this summer on an eastern leg between Hopatcong in Sussex County and Roseland in Essex County. But that strategy caused trouble for its wetlands permit reviews by the DEP, which noted the BPU had approved the project in one piece, not in a bifurcated process.

Additionally, the National Park Service has stood firm on its plan to delay action until 2012, as it holds public hearings and considered alternative routes for the line. Three hearings are scheduled for Aug. 17 through Aug. 19 in Pennsylvania and Sussex County.

Environmental groups, contending the project will ruin sensitive land and promote polluting, coal-generated electrical plants in the west, applauded the park service for its careful approach.

“PSE&G has been playing a high-stakes game of chicken with the public and regulators, whom they are now blaming for their not getting their permits on a fast track. This doesn’t surprise us, considering the vast environmental and scenic damage that will be imposed on the Highlands for this risky, ill-conceived, and expensive project,” said Julia Somers of the Highlands Coalition.

At the end of May, PSEG announced that they have filed an “Early Site Permit Application” with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a new nuclear plant at the Salem-Hope Creek site on the Delaware River.  This is an “Early Site Permit Application” but it’s one that has the “opportunity” for a contested case, meaning we’ve got to act, because only intervenors are parties, only parties have any rights.  So, it’s time to check out what they’re proposing and get ready.

Here’s their press release:

PSEG Power and PSEG Nuclear file Early Site Permit Application

It’s now available, posted on the NRC website (PSEG wouldn’t send me one directly, and that was about three weeks ago that I’d asked):

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/pseg.html

The NRC Press Release says:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public an Early Site Permit (ESP) application for the PSEG site near Salem, N.J.

The applicants, PSEG Power and PSEG Nuclear, submitted the application and associated information on May 25. The application, minus proprietary and security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at:

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/pseg.html

PSEG’s ESP application seeks resolution of safety and environmental issues for the site, approximately seven miles southwest of Salem. The NRC staff is currently conducting an initial check of the application to determine whether it contains sufficient information required for a formal review. If the application passes the initial check, the NRC will “docket,” or accept it for review; this decision is expected by early August. If the application is accepted, the NRC will then announce an opportunity for the public to request an adjudicatory hearing on the application.

More information about the new reactor licensing process is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors.html.

The PSEG Press Release from May says:

The preferred location for a potential new plant would be adjacent to PSEG Nuclear’s Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations now in operation in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem County.  The site is currently the second largest nuclear facility in the United States.

That’s right across the Delaware river from us in Port Penn, Delaware… as if three reactors at Salem and Hope Creek aren’t enough?  Plus I’ve got two here just upriver and upwind in Red Wing.  AAAAAAAAAAGH!

And let me get this straight, they think this can fly?  Who would finance it?  Oh, right, the feds…but WHY?

Who would buy that power that will be so expensive, even with subsidies?  They want to build this as an independent power producer… and the energy market is GLUTTED.  Who would buy it?  At what price?

• Energy prices are at an all time low, peak demand is at an all time low.

1. PJM State of the Market Report 2009 – Marketing Analytics
2. PJM State of the Market Report 2010 (1Q) – Marketing Analytics
   

• On the other hand, nuclear, NEW nuclear, is at an all time high, the capital cost is well over $6,500/kw.  Unless it’s subsidized 100% by ratepayers, who could afford it — but anything is easy to afford if someone else pays, so…
• Taxpayers and ratepayers pay?

What planet are they on?

Yes, they ARE insane!

PSEG has announced that they have filed an “Early Site Permit Application” with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission:

PSEG Power and PSEG Nuclear file Early Site Permit Application

It’s now on the NRC website:

http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/esp/pseg.html

The Press Release says:

The preferred location for a potential new
plant would be adjacent to PSEG Nuclear’s Salem and Hope Creek
Generating Stations now in operation in Lower Alloways Creek, Salem
County.  The site is currently the second largest nuclear facility in
the United States.

That’s right across the river from us in Port Penn, Delaware…

And let me get this straight, they think this can fly?  Who would finance it?  Who would buy it?

• Energy prices are at an all time low, peak demand is at an all time low.

1. PJM State of the Market Report 2009 – Marketing Analytics
2. PJM State of the Market Report 2010 (1Q) – Marketing Analytics
   

• On the other hand, nuclear, NEW nuclear, is at an all time high, the capital cost is well over $6,500/kw.  Unless it’s subsidized 100% by ratepayers, who could afford it — anything is easy to afford if someone else pays, so…

What planet are they on?

It was one of those weeks.   First CapX 2020 provides official notice that the Brookings-Hampton transmission line is delayed.  [Motion to Suspend Proceedings!]

Hot in the heels of CapX 2020’s notice of “delay” of the Brookings-Hampton transmission line, PSEG provides official notice that it is withdrawing their NJ DEP permit for the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission line:

Please take notice in accordance with N.J.A.C. 7:A12.6(f). Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is hereby amending the above-referenced permit applications submitted to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). PSE&G is withdrawing the applications for the section of the Project located to the west of the proposed Hopatcong Switching Station. The municipalities west of the Hopatcong Switching Station include Sparta Township, Byram Township, Andover Township, the Town of Newton, Fredon Township, Stillwater Township and Hardwick Township The company may resubmit a new application or applications to NJDEP for the western section of the Project at a later date.

It’s all here in their Notice to affected towns:

PSEG’s Notice of Withdrawal – NJ DEP

And here’s the real deal:

PSEG Amended NJ DEP Permit filed 5/14/10

The funniest part is this — AS IF!!!

We know that they’ve got a problem at the Delaware Water Gap… we know they’ve got a problem at the NJ DEP… Now I wonder… how much of the Pennsylvania part is withdrawn???

Just like the CapX 2020 transmission project, the Susquehanna-Roseland transmission project was approved as a whole, the studies used to justify it were on the project as a whole, the BPU decision approving the project was on the project as a whole… so what, now they can say they just don’t need that part???  I don’t think so…