Page 6 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • December 4, 2013 Area BPU overturns tall utility pole installation ban by John Koster The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities has approved the Public Service Electric & Gas company’s continued installation of 65-foot utility poles and heavier electrical and communications cable. Objections from Ridgewood residents had stopped the program in its tracks for several months. No date has yet been given for when the installation will resume. Ridgewood officials had argued that, while they granted easements for installation, they had not been adequately informed about the height of the new poles. The BPU criticized the utility company for not pro- viding more publicity, but approved the program without modifications, stating that Ridgewood-based objections were outweighed by the greater interest of public ser- vice. PSE&G had argued that the taller, thicker utility poles and their heavier cables would provide more reliable elec- trical service in the wake of two week-long power outages in Ridgewood and other northwest Bergen County towns in 2011 and 2012. In both cases, storms dropped trees and PSE&G workers installing 65-foot utility poles this past summer in Ridgewood large limbs on existing utility lines, interrupting service to many local homes and businesses. “This experience has reinforced to us the importance of communications with the communities in which we are building and upgrading facilities,” said Karen Johnson, a designated spokesperson for PSE&G. “We have already implemented some improvements in our outreach and will continue to look at ways to improve the process to better assure that communities understand the rationale for projects and to allay any health or safety concerns in advance.” The abrupt arrival of the 65-foot poles polarized the Ridgewood neighborhoods in which they suddenly appeared and raised concerns about the potential damage the taller poles could do to houses and cars. Citizens also expressed concerns about the purported, but not estab- lished, health menace of heavier electric voltage cours- ing through the heavier lines -- lines so heavy that utility engineers said they could catch and suspend trees and poles that would have snapped the older type of lines. Most of the other towns along the route had raised few (continued on page 31)