Yesterday, NJ Congressman Frank Pallone sent a letter to the NJ Board of Public Utilities requesting that the regulator open an audit of JCP&L to ensure that the company is not using ratepayer funds to underwrite its lobbying campaign.
Ut-oh, JCP&L! Yes, your stated rate is not transparent. You receive a set amount of money from the ratepayers to run your utility, and how you spend that money is pretty much up to you. But, the thing is, the amount of money you waste on advocacy campaigns is money you don't spend repairing and modernizing your decrepit distribution system, and that causes outages. While utility customers can directly benefit from repairs and upgrades to the system, nobody is directly benefiting from phone calls, postcards, and door-to-door petitions trying to drum up support for the Monmouth County Reliability Project in advance of tonight's public hearing.
Many people may be scratching their heads over the concept that not only must they pay their own expenses to oppose this awful project, but they're also on the hook for the cost of JCP&L buying support for its project. You pay to fight them, and you pay for them to fight you. Something's indeed wrong with this picture.
JCP&L's response to Congressman Pallone's letter:
Ut-oh, JCP&L! Yes, your stated rate is not transparent. You receive a set amount of money from the ratepayers to run your utility, and how you spend that money is pretty much up to you. But, the thing is, the amount of money you waste on advocacy campaigns is money you don't spend repairing and modernizing your decrepit distribution system, and that causes outages. While utility customers can directly benefit from repairs and upgrades to the system, nobody is directly benefiting from phone calls, postcards, and door-to-door petitions trying to drum up support for the Monmouth County Reliability Project in advance of tonight's public hearing.
Many people may be scratching their heads over the concept that not only must they pay their own expenses to oppose this awful project, but they're also on the hook for the cost of JCP&L buying support for its project. You pay to fight them, and you pay for them to fight you. Something's indeed wrong with this picture.
JCP&L's response to Congressman Pallone's letter:
JCP&L spokesman Ron Morano said the utility is following procedures. "All costs associated with the project will be reviewed as part of that process," Morano said.
Reviewed by whom? The fox inside the hen house? Whose procedures? JCP&L's? I'm not sure when I've heard a more weaselly statement.
And speaking of weasels and other predatory animals, I gotta say that you've outdone yourself with the bullshit this time, FirstEnergy! But let's be real here, all your efforts to create advocacy for your project will fail because nobody will go out of their way to support a transmission project unless they're being paid to do so. As if some random person will drive across the county, stand in a long line, and then sit for hours in a crowded auditorium waiting for a chance to speak in support of a transmission line they've only recently heard of from a door-to-door day laborer... FOR FREE? Surely you jest! Whatever meager appearance of support you manage to milk out of your recent advocacy buy cannot stand up to the honest, forthright and committed opposition to your project. In fact, perhaps the only thing you've accomplished is to tick off even more people who ordinarily wouldn't have paid any attention to your project. You know how it goes...
And speaking of weasels and other predatory animals, I gotta say that you've outdone yourself with the bullshit this time, FirstEnergy! But let's be real here, all your efforts to create advocacy for your project will fail because nobody will go out of their way to support a transmission project unless they're being paid to do so. As if some random person will drive across the county, stand in a long line, and then sit for hours in a crowded auditorium waiting for a chance to speak in support of a transmission line they've only recently heard of from a door-to-door day laborer... FOR FREE? Surely you jest! Whatever meager appearance of support you manage to milk out of your recent advocacy buy cannot stand up to the honest, forthright and committed opposition to your project. In fact, perhaps the only thing you've accomplished is to tick off even more people who ordinarily wouldn't have paid any attention to your project. You know how it goes...
"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." -- Isoroku Yamamoto
I see FirstEnergy's media event yesterday got photo bombed by protestors. What? No helicopter rides? Is that because its proposed route would only increase scrutiny? Jamming a 230kV transmission line into a very narrow commuter railroad right-of-way is insane! Who thought that was a viable idea? The visual of that boggles the mind! Erecting "sleek" monopoles just 15-feet from residential property lines doesn't provide adequate right-of-way, which is probably why JCP&L wants to condemn and take an additional "vegetation" right-of-way on residential properties. Is that just smoke and mirrors to avoid actually paying for sufficient property for your right-of-way? Ridiculous! JCP&L isn't fooling anyone.
So, tonight's the big night! The second BPU public hearing on the MCRP begins at 5:30. Opposition will be huge and fierce. The people will tell their stories. Fake advocacy cannot withstand the storm. RAGE on, folks!
So, tonight's the big night! The second BPU public hearing on the MCRP begins at 5:30. Opposition will be huge and fierce. The people will tell their stories. Fake advocacy cannot withstand the storm. RAGE on, folks!
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