U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), who represents much of Monmouth County, joined community leaders today marking a milestone in opposing the controversial Monmouth County Reliability Project (MCRP).

   In June, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) rejected the proposal of Jersey Central Power & Light (JCP&L) to construct high-voltage power lines between Red Bank and Aberdeen. With the appeals window now closed, the leaders and members of the community today celebrated the BPU's decision as final.

   “Local residents fought long and hard to oppose these power lines, especially Rachel Kanapka, Kin Gee and their committed group, Residents Against Giant Electric (RAGE),” said Smith, who visited many sites along the route of the proposed power lines, met with concerned residents and local officials, and testified on the detrimental effects the power lines would have on the local communities. “I applaud the BPU for making the decision to reject the proposal, and I am pleased to have been able to work hard alongside all the members of RAGE and to today be able to celebrate their victory.”

   RAGE held its "Sunday WONday" event today at the Red Rock Tap + Grill on Wharf Ave. in Red Bank.

   After the giant power lines were proposed as part of the MCRP proposal, Smith met with residents who would have been directly affected by the proposed power lines. In July of 2016 he personally visited homes that would have been impacted had the plan gone forward. As he walked through the neighborhoods of Holmdel and Middletown surveying the proposed route of the power lines, he became convinced that the project would be devastating for the five communities involved at different points along the route.

   The towers, expected to be metal poles 10-feet in diameter ranging in height from 135 to 210 feet, would have run in close proximity to residential neighborhoods and schools from Red Bank to Aberdeen, along a 9.7-mile strip along the NJ Transit (NJT) rail right-of-way.

   Members of RAGE along with other residents successfully rallied against the proposed power lines, including Kanapka, Gee, Lisa Walsh, Judy Musa and Terri Vilardi, as well as dozens of state and local elected officials and the hundreds of residents.

   Smith said that the unsightly power lines in clear view of homes would almost certainly hurt the property values of those homes and result in economic loss for many long-time local residents. Smith met with concerned neighbors personally in the summer of 2016 and went into the field to examine the proposed route of the power lines. He gave testimony before the NJT Board of Directors on October 13, 2016, to convince the agency to reject JCP&L’s application to site monopoles on the NJT right-of-way. At that October meeting, NJT officials promised to personally tour the route of the proposed power lines.

   In November 2016, Smith visited more homes, a school, senior center, and church along the MCRP route, with NJ Transit officials and other elected officials. In February of 2017, he submitted a statement to the NJ Senate Economic Growth Committee in opposition to the MCRP.  Smith also submitted remarks against the project to the Honorable Gail M. Cookson, NJ Office of Administrative Law, in May of 2017. In March of 2018, Judge Cookson sided with the residents who opposed the plan.

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