Power line through Delaware Water Gap NRA draws chorus of opposition at hearing
Opponents of a controversial 550-kilovolt power line that would traverse Pennsylvania and New Jersey said tonight at a public hearing they want the power companies to pull the plug on the plan.
But representatives of Public Service Electric & Gas in New Jersey and PPL Electric Utilities Corp. in Pennsylvania, which are proposing the nearly $1 billion upgrade to the 130-mile Susquehanna-Roseland line from Berwick in northeastern Pennsylvania to Roseland in Essex County, said doing nothing to improve the 1930s-era transmission line is unrealistic.
The proposal has received approvals from the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities and New Jersey Highlands Council. The last "major" approval needed is a permit from the National Park Service, to allow the upgraded line to cut through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and cross the Appalachian Trail.
Of some 55 people who attended an NPS hearing on the plan tonight in Bushkill, Pa., 19 spoke and all were opposed to the power-line expansion. The common themes were "No Build," meaning not increasing transmission capacity, and instead promoting conservation and renewable energies such as solar and wind.