RAGE 2016

09/30/2026

Thank you Prakash for speaking out. Public officials making repeated untrue public accusations and spinning a narrative to attempt to deflect blame to a group
of residents should make all Holmdel residents pause.

https://patch.com/new-jersey/holmdel-hazlet/outrages?utm_source=article-mostrecent&utm_medium=rss&utm_term=politics+%26+government&utm_campaign=recirc&utm_content=social&fbclid=IwZnRzaAUp1q9leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWUPZdESH2Xrl3jnj6-k_8I4e2xemVzHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR4fODAHolJNM1L_yEKTha9NQDxiCp82TT0KuzFxi3tvIdD8aFA1Dx1QvwUQfA_aem_wEACKlzmjbGZRJa2apJjGw

One of your neighbors posted in Politics & Government. Click through to read what they have to say. (The views expressed in this post are the author’s own.)

09/27/2026

RAGE RESPONSE TO DESPERATE HOLMDEL ACCUSATIONS
You may be seeing some somewhat unhinged comments and posts being put forth by the Holmdel mayor, Holmdel Township, the Holmdel Republican Party, and the Holmdel Republican Club about RAGE. We wanted to respond and again set the record straight.

As we mentioned in June, the Holmdel Township mayor has been accusing RAGE of "negotiating" or "approving" the current new giant poles being installed in Holmdel -- an absolutely ludicrous accusation.

Despite RAGE sending emails to the entire Holmdel TC and also speaking during public comment at 2 township committee meetings with facts proving RAGE did not and could not be responsible for this current project, Holmdel Mayor Rocco Impreveduto and other Holmdel Republican organizations have doubled down in spinning this false narrative in an effort to distract from the fact that Holmdel Township knew about this new 2026 project in 2023 and did not do anything to stop it.

We have posted a full response and timeline, with links at the end to relevant primary sources. Please read through it to get the full, TRUE history of what happened. It is a long read, because as those of you who were paying attention back then know, it was a very involved, very complicated, multi-year fight. We wanted to be thorough and address all sides of this ridiculous accusation so the RAGErs know the truth. Thank you.

================================

The Holmdel Township Committee is pointing the finger at a grassroots residents group for the installation of multi-million dollar monopoles, but their accusation is inaccurate, unproven, and legally impossible. Here is the thorough timeline of facts.

🗓 May 2016: JCP&L put forth a proposal to install a brand-new 10-mile-long 230 kV high voltage transmission line above the New Jersey Transit railroad tracks, through the towns of Holmdel, Middletown, Hazlet, Aberdeen, and Red Bank, to fix a “P7” technical code violation. They called it the Monmouth County Reliability Project (MCRP), project code B1690. The transmission line was unprecedented in proposed location, scale, and proximity to people’s homes -- never before in the United States had a transmission line been constructed above commuter railroad tracks like this. The public became aware when certified letters started arriving at the homes of all residents living within 200 feet of the proposed new poles. Public opposition built quickly.

🗓 September-October, 2016: The Township Committees of Holmdel, Middletown, Hazlet, and Aberdeen joined forces and hired representation to oppose the project as official intervenors in the legal proceedings. Separately, RAGE (Residents Against Giant Electric), the residents' grassroots group that formed in the weeks following JCP&L's public notification of the project, also fundraised, hired legal representation, and joined the case as an intervenor, fighting alongside the towns.

🗓 April - July, 2017: Evidentiary hearings took place in the NJ Office of Administrative Law over the course of 9 days, and included testimony from over 15 expert witnesses. As part of the proceedings, RAGE’s electrical expert Jeffrey Palermo testified that there were ways to address the technical violation that did not require a giant new transmission line. The judge asked for an example. Palermo provided one -- updating 34.5kV lines and adding two STATCOM voltage regulators -- and provided power study backup to prove it would work.

🗓 March 2018: Administrative Law Judge Gail Cookson released her 180-page decision (🔗), finding that JCP&L’s proposed transmission line to fix the technical violation was immense overkill (“the electrical equivalent of using an elephant gun to kill a gnat”) and that JCP&L had been misleading and dishonest in its attempt to push the project through. Local elected officials agreed, including NJ-4 US House representative Chris Smith. "It is a sweeping repudiation of JCP&L's whole rationale," Smith said of the decision. "The die has been cast. They would be fools, foolish and fools, to proceed with this … very ill-thought-out proposal." (🔗: Asbury Park Press, 3/8/26) Regarding RAGE’s efforts, NJ Senator Declan O’Scanlon commented, “This is truly a shining example of a grassroots movement impacting government and our community – and resulting in a just and fair decision.” (🔗: Two River Times, 3/20/18.)

🗓 June 2018: the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (NJBPU) voted unanimously to uphold and adopt the judge’s decision. JCP&L’s petition for the MCRP, Project B1690, was officially denied.

AFTER MCRP WAS DENIED:

🗓 May 2019: Nearly one year after the MCRP project was denied, through Congressman Frank Pallone, RAGE leaders were asked to “come out of retirement” to attend a single meeting at JCP&L's BellWorks offices on May 28, 2019. No township officials from any of the towns that were legal intervenors in the MCRP legal proceedings attended the meeting. (RAGE does not know if they were invited to this or any other meetings with JCP&L.)

At that meeting, JCP&L President Jim Fakult, JCP&L Government Affairs liaison Kieran Tintle, First Energy Transmission Operations Manager Larre Hozempa, and five other JCP&L/First Energy employees presented 4 alternative fixes for the still-existing P7 technical violation, and asked RAGE to weigh in.

Of the 4 alternative fixes presented, Option 3 contained some similarities to what RAGE’s expert Jeffrey Palermo had offered in court (two STATCOM voltage regulators), but JCP&L said they would not pursue that one. JCP&L asked for RAGE’s feedback. RAGE asked for a copy of the presentation so Palermo could review and comment on the proposed alternatives. JCP&L said no.

RAGE left the meeting, re-entered “RAGE retirement,” and had no further contact with JCP&L ever again.

🗓 August 2019: On August 8, 2019, JCP&L submitted their “MCRP alternative” project to regional grid operator PJM’s Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee. Important: their proposal was not one of the 4 options presented during the May 29 meeting with RAGE. It was a new 5th option that involved re-circuiting existing poles throughout Monmouth County, including in Holmdel (Project Code B1690.3). (🔗 - GO TO PAGE 23.)

CURRENT JCP&L PROJECT:

🗓 February 2026: Six and a half years later, seemingly out of nowhere, towering laminate and steel monopoles start replacing short wooden poles in Holmdel. Residents sound the alarm to township officials and are pointed to a First Energy press release for Project JC-103609 (🔗) , an "Infrastructure Upgrade” that is part of a larger JCP&L initiative called Energize 365. Its stated goal: "upgrading many of our existing facilities with advanced equipment and technologies that will reinforce the power grid and help prevent or reduce the duration of customer outages. The project represents an approximately $30 million investment to replace 10 miles of an existing electric line to replace aged infrastructure and accommodate a second circuit for reliability."

While this new project seems to share the route and some characteristics of that “Option #5” project B1690.3 that JCP&L proposed to PJM in August 2019, the scope of this new 2026 project is much broader -- including installing new larger structures and equipment -- and has a different Project Code (JC-103609) and a different name. (🔗: FACT SHEET.)

Also worth noting is that unlike in 2016, this time residents whose properties are within 200' of these newly-installed JC-103609 oversized poles and lines -- who JCP&L has a legal obligation to inform via certified mail -- report getting no official notice of the project.

So where did this project come from? And why didn’t anybody know about it?

🚨 HOLMDEL TOWNSHIP KNEW ABOUT THE CURRENT UTILITY POLES SINCE 2023 🚨

Like the general public, nobody from RAGE knew about Project JC-103609 until after construction began in early 2026. But it appears Holmdel Township knew sooner:

🚩 JCP&L says they notified Holmdel in 2023: JCP&L spokesperson Chris Hoenig told News 12 that JCP&L has been working “collaboratively” with Holmdel Township representatives on this project since 2023 and has worked with the town “every step of the way” (🔗 see :48 in the NJ NEWS 12 video).

🚩 Then-Mayor Brian Foster toured the new pole locations in 2025: At the 9/22/26 Township Committee meeting, Brian Foster acknowledged that he toured pole locations with JCP&L sometime in 2025, when he was mayor.

In spring of 2026, as the new giant poles kept going in, the public started to piece together that Holmdel Township knew about this project for almost 3 years and did nothing -- and Mayor Rocco Impreveduto attempted to deflect eyes on Holmdel by blaming RAGE.

Holmdel Township, the Holmdel Republican Party, and the Holmdel Republican Club are continuing to push the absolutely untrue narrative that RAGE “approved” the new giant Project JC-103609 monopoles being installed throughout Holmdel via a concerning, somewhat unhinged stretch of public comments, press releases, and Facebook posts, including creating AI caricatures of RAGE volunteers and publicly defaming them.

To be absolutely clear: as described in detail above, RAGE did not “approve” any JCP&L project, ever. After the BPU sided with us and shot down the JCP&L’s transmission proposal, we were asked to be shown alternative fixes by JCP&L. JCP&L refused to share them with our electrical expert, and we did not comment. Of the options they presented, none matched the one our expert proposed in court, and the closest one (Option 3) was dismissed by JCP&L. Option 5, the one they ended up proposing to PJM in 2019, was not even presented at the meeting we attended. And we definitely did not see the much more invasive Project JC-103609 that is currently being constructed, which JCP&L brought to Holmdel in 2023.

While we can provide this information to defend ourselves, even responding to the accusation that we somehow allowed or invited this new project to happen at all is ludicrous at its core because, of course, a grassroots group does not have any legal approval rights or negotiation power regarding utility projects. (We wish we did. We could have saved RAGE donors and the towns almost a million dollars back in 2017.) The insinuation that we somehow “traded” (?) the MCRP for this current project is equally absurd, and reflects how little the current mayor understands the 2016-2018 fight against JCP&L.

We are proud to have fought alongside Holmdel and all 5 towns to protect our communities in 2016-2018. We learned a lot. Had Holmdel Township come to us in 2023-2025 when JCP&L approached them with Project JC-103609, we would have provided history and input to help them fight that too. They did not.

Instead, Holmdel Township officials are now spending their energy attacking a citizens’ group that was their ally, instead of the utility installing these towering eyesores in their town. Why?

❓ Why aren’t they instead fuming that JCP&L did not include them in that May 2019 meeting?

❓ Why aren’t they instead demanding JCP&L provide certified mail receipts to prove Holmdel residents were notified of Project JC-103609 as required by law?

❓ Why did they shield JCP&L from direct questioning from the public on September 22?

❓ Why are they not screaming at JCP&L, “You didn’t tell us this was coming!”

Why? Because JCP&L DID tell Holmdel this project was coming, and Holmdel didn’t do anything to stop it.

JCP&L probably didn’t provide all the details, so Holmdel may not have realized how incredibly large-scale it was, or how terrible it would look once completed…but Holmdel knows JCP&L can prove Holmdel was aware, in some capacity, for 3 years before the first pole went in.

And when Township officials saw how bad it was, rather than owning that mistake and trying to work with JCP&L to change the project, the mayor looked for a scapegoat.

RAGE will not be that scapegoat. We stand with the people of Holmdel in opposing Project JC-103609, and we urge them to keep demanding accountability and transparency from their Township Committee and from JCP&L. Holmdel residents deserve better.

================================

LINKS:

Judge Cookson’s initial decision document: https://www.scribd.com/document/373340603/Decision-against-the-JCP-L-Monmouth-County-Reliability-Project

Two River Times, 3/20/2108: “Judge Zaps $111M High Voltage Power Line Project”:
https://tworivertimes.com/judge-zaps-111m-high-voltage-power-line-project/

Asbury Park Press, 3/8/2018, “JCP&L controversial Monmouth power line zapped by judge”: https://www.app.com/story/money/business/consumer/2018/03/08/judge-jcpl-power-line-monmouth-county-reliability-project-decision/408001002/

Slides from the 8/8/2019 meeting of the PJM Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee (TEAC):https://www.pjm.com/-/media/DotCom/committees-groups/committees/teac/20190808/20190808-reliability-analysis-update.pdf

First Energy press release for Project JC-103609: https://www.firstenergycorp.com/newsroom/news_articles/stronger-poles-new-wire-deliver-more-reliable-power-monmouth-county.html

JCP&L Project Fact Sheet for Project JC-103609: https://holmdeltownship.com/DocumentCenter/View/5974/Holmdel---Infrastructure-Upgrade-Project-JC-103609_E365-fact-sheet_2025-05-15

NJ12 News video featuring interview with JCP&L spokesperson Chris Hoenig: https://newjersey.news12.com/2026/05/18/holmdel-township-takes-a-stand-against-jcpls-oversized-utility-poles/6Uy05YhxerhRXCo66GD8dF

06/23/2026

At the June 9, 2026 Holmdel Township Committee meeting, Holmdel's mayor publicly commented that RAGE was responsible for "negotiating" the new giant, towering wood/laminate/metal monopoles going up in Holmdel -- a statement that is absolutely, positively FALSE.

RAGE's co-president sent an email the next morning to the mayor and forwarded it to the full township committee a day later, providing detail and asking for RAGE's name to be cleared. Below are those emails for anybody interested.

++++++++++++++++++
(June 11 email to full township committee; forwarding the email initially only sent to the mayor on June 10)

to:
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected],
[email protected]
date: Jun 11, 2026, 11:58 AM
subject: Fwd: URGENT: misinformation re: JCPL metal pole project

Hello Mayor Impreveduto and Holmdel Township Committee:

I realized that I should have included you all on my email yesterday re: the on-the-record comment at your meeting on Tuesday night that RAGE, and specifically I, "negotiated" the new hideous, oversized JCPL monopoles that are being installed in Holmdel right now. I absolutely did not and provide backup for that below. Along with the other RAGE volunteers, I fought very hard for Holmdel, Middletown, Hazlet, Aberdeen, and Red Bank for the 3 years of the RAGE fight against JCPL. Greg, you were there for all of it fighting alongside us and I am sure can attest to my dedication and non-stop efforts to protect our towns. Honestly I am very insulted to now be thrown under the bus by Holmdel, especially in a public forum.

I am assuming JCPL was the one who told you (the township committee) that I/RAGE "approved" this. Yet nobody from Holmdel reached out to me at all before your meeting to ask me or Kin anything, before publicly accusing me of being responsible for the hideous poles going up in Holmdel right now. If you had I would have shown/told you everything in the email below to provide the facts.

I was shocked Tuesday night when I was texted by a friend to tune into your meeting because RAGE was being discussed, and even more shocked to hear my own full name be said aloud, on the record, as being to blame for the current project. I want the record corrected.

Please confirm receipt of this email and issue a statement that clears my and RAGE's name, immediately. I will not be the scapegoat for JCPL.

Rachael Kanapka

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Rachael Kanapka
Date: Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 11:41 AM
Subject: URGENT: misinformation re: JCPL metal pole project
To:

Hello Mayor Impreveduto,

I am writing because I heard that you mentioned RAGE/my name in your township committee meeting last night, regarding the new large JCPL poles going up in Holmdel.

I am not sure who told you that RAGE negotiated/approved this project, but that is not true. I fear JCPL may be trying to mislead you and pin this project on RAGE. While JCPL did talk to us (RAGE) in May 2019, a year after the project was denied, to ask our opinion on alternative solutions, we never supported/agreed to/OKed any of them (details below.)

In fact, documents show that after that meeting they moved forward with their "new" project proposal to update the wires on the then-EXISTING wooden poles, and then CHANGED the project specs to the brand new metal poles now being installed, possibly without necessary BPU approval.

I am happy to explain more or answer any questions you have. I've documented some key facts, dates, and details below re: our interactions with JCPL after the original train tracks/steel monopoles/high-voltage transmission line project was denied, so you know what actually went down.

Many RAGErs were Holmdel residents -- some of our strongest. We worked closely with your TC at the time, and were even honored by them at the April 24, 2018 committee meeting, and presented with a resolution from Senator O'Scanlon, Assemblywoman DiMaso and Assemblywoman Handlin that night too. Also, your father was a freeholder/commissioner at the end of the RAGE fight (2018) and I know he was very supportive of RAGE and also congratulated us afterwards. Nobody in RAGE would have EVER supported ANY JCPL project that involved new metal poles. We fought like hell to protect Holmdel and the other 4 towns involved.

I ask you to set the record straight and publicly correct the statement made at the meeting last night that I or RAGE negotiated or approved what is happening in Holmdel right now. We 100% did not. JCPL is gaslighting you.

Thank you,
Rachael Kanapka

1. "RAGE'S PROPOSED SOLUTION" POST ON FACEBOOK: The April 2017 post of mine that you referenced last night was one of my daily court summaries that I posted to Facebook for the RAGErs when we were still in court proceedings in the NJ Office of Administrative Law. We (RAGE) joined the court case as an intervenor and spent $500k to hire an attorney and experts to testify. Our electrical engineering expert, Jeffrey Palermo, testified in court that day that he had found an alternative way to "solve" the P7 violation that did not involve installing new giant monopoles over the train tracks of 5 towns; his alternative involved installing 2 new STATCOM devices at the Red Bank substation (basically truck-sized voltage regulators) and updating the 34.5 kV wires on EXISTING poles in the towns. His testimony was proof that JCPL had NOT explored other cheaper, less invasive options -- our expert found one and in doing so convinced the judge they had not done their job, and were just trying to get a new transmission line approved because they are more profitable.

2. AFTER JCPL LOST, THEY CAME UP WITH THEIR OWN ALTERNATIVES. After the judge ruled against JCPL (March 2018), and then the BPU officially denied the project (June 2018), and then after JCPL appealed the BPU order and lost (September 2018), JCPL did reach out to Congressman Pallone about "alternative solutions" and Pallone's office then involved RAGE. I and several other RAGErs met with JCPL (with Pallone's staff) on May 28, 2019. At that meeting JCPL proposed 4 extremely expensive alternatives and asked for our feedback. They were looking for the RAGE stamp of approval, but we would not give it. We said while one option (their "option 3") is most like our expert's proposed solution (updated wires on EXISTING wooden poles plus STATCOMS at Red Bank) the pricing is insane -- it was $300M+ vs. the ~$30M our expert estimated it would cost. We asked if we could share the presentation with our expert witness to get his opinion and they said no. Below are a section of my notes from that meeting on what option 3 entailed. We left that meeting saying conceptually we think their proposed option 3 (again, on EXISTING WOOD POLES) is the most feasible and least intrusive, but the cost estimate is ridiculous. Therefore, we do not endorse any of these options.

=================
(Notes from 5/28/19 meeting with JCPL -- the details of their "Option 3")
#3. 34.5 kV Remedial Action Scheme (RAS) WOOD POLE.

● Create a RAS by installing a SONET fiber ring by rebuilding 41 miles of 34.5 kV
lines (8 circuits) and installing 2 STATCOMS AND rebuild 60 miles of 34.5 kV
system lines

● $303M total cost
● Part one: SONET Fiber Ring + 2 50 MVAR STATCOMS (3-4 years to complete).
● Part two: rebuild 60 miles of 34.5 kV system (8-9 years to complete)
● Question was asked about if any of this overlapped with what was proposed with
Reliability Plus that then was scrapped. Ed Jinks said there is no overlap with
Reliability Plus. Ed said there are distribution benefits to this option #3: as we
replace all poles and re-string 34.5 kV above, the distribution 12.5 kV lines on the
same poles would also be replaced.
● 34.5 kV is “subtransmission.” When asked how many outages are caused by
subtransmission issues, he said average customer has 10 minutes of
subtransmission outage time per year.
● When asked more about outage causes:
○ Distribution issues cause 85% of outage hours
○ Substation+subtransmission+transmission issues cause 15% of outage
hours

=================

3. "OPTION 5" -- ON EXISTING WOODEN POLES -- IS WHAT THEY MOVED FORWARD WITH. After that meeting, JCPL apparently came up with an "Option 5" that was presented at PJM (the regional grid operator) Transmission Expansion Advisory Committee meeting on August 8, 2019 (these are the meetings where they discuss upcoming projects and vet them before moving on to BPU approvals if needed). This Option 5 (which we did not see or review in our 5/28/19 meeting at all) is detailed on page 23 of the attached deck. It clearly says in two places that any updates would happen to EXISTING poles:
at top: "Proposed Solution: Construct seven new 34.5 kV circuits on existing pole lines (total of 53.5* miles)"
at bottom: * - 44.1 miles will be converting existing single circuit to double circuit 34.5 kV construction; 9.4 miles will be adding 34.5 kV circuit to existing distribution pole lines
NOTE: ** We showed this document to our attorney and electrical expert at that time and the general opinion was that since this project as proposed would be on an EXISTING right of way using EXISTING wooden poles, BPU approval was not needed -- it would likely just be considered "typical" system maintenance updating.**

But, obviously, somewhere along the line JCPL changed the project from wooden poles to metal poles. I do not know if they were supposed to get BPU approval to do that, or if they did. I also do not know if they informed the affected towns about the new metal pole plan.

NOTIFICATION LETTERS AND SETTLEMENT OFFERS: Another point to be aware of that for the original train tracks transmission proposal, JCPL had to send a certified letter to all people living within 200 feet of where the metal poles would be going. Those letters are how the public first found out about the project -- LOTS of people got them and they were impossible to miss. I have asked around and not heard of or seen any certified letter notification received by any Holmdel resident for these new metal poles going in right now. That no resident has shared a notification letter is a red flag -- it looks as if JCPL did not notify residents of this like they may have been required to by the BPU.

Also alarming is the report in the Two River Times that a resident was offered money from JCPL + JCPL's contractor in response to him questioning the poles.

Both of those things together should really raise some eyebrows.

Definitely ask JCPL:
when the project switched to metal poles?
did they get BPU approval to do that?
why were residents not notified by certified letter like they did with the Monmouth County Reliability Project? (their name for the original high voltage transmission lines over the 10 miles of train tracks.)

Something is not adding up. And I refuse to let myself or RAGE take the blame. Please let me know if you have any questions.