Politics & Government

Manasquan Blasts JCP&L

Mayor Dempsey offers sharp criticism in wake of Hurricane Irene

Manasquan Mayor George Dempsey has taken aim at First Energy Corporation, requesting urgent and immediate attention from the utility company and demanding answers for what he feels is an inadequate response to damage and outages caused by Hurricane Irene.

"I would like to share the Borough of Manasquan's frustrations and complete disappointment with JCP&L during the aftermath of Hurricane Irene," Dempsey writes. "Not only have our residents been frustrated with the response from JCP&L and their automated message, but also with their stated 'back to service' date."

Dempsey requested that Jersey Central Power and Light take immediate action in restoring power to the borough's downtown business district at Main Street and Parker Avenue as well as the borough's two public schools. 

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"To date we have not received any indication when the utility company will be on site to correct the problem," Dempsey said. "To this end, traffic to our downtown area has been cut off not only to vehicular traffic, but more importantly to emergency and public safety responders."

Dempsey also requested immediate action be taken at two residences— one on Cedar Avenue where a child with special needs has a medical condition that requires electricity to run a hospital-type bed, and another on Marcellus Avenue where a live wire has been on the front lawn since the storm. 

Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Dempsey also offered sharp criticism of JCP&L in the wake of the hurricane.

"The company, its ability to communicate and aid the local municipalities and its emergency plan is unacceptable," he said. "We demand that a JCP&L government representative be assigned to communicate directly to high ranking municipal officials when a state of emergency is called."

In the letter, which was copied to Governor Chris Christie, Board of Public Utilities Presidents Lee A. Solomon, the borough's representatives in the state legislature, the Monmouth County Freeholders and Office of Emergency Management, borough officials and local media, Manasquan demanded specific answers to the following questions on JCP&L's storm response:

  • What were JCP&L's advance preparations when Hurricane Irene was identified and announced? The hurricane was clearly identified a week before approaching New Jersey as a significant threat to life and property.
  • What plans were made to deploy out of state workers to New Jersey? How many were available, when were they dispatched and ready to operate?
  • What were the operations during the hurricane?
  • How did JCP&L mobilize manpower to New Jersey and specifically to areas threatened with the most potential for damage and power outages?
  • During the aftermath, what were the protocols, amount of crews available, the sequence in which they were deployed and the method in which they were assigned to address outages, etc.? 

Dempsey has also called on legislators at the state level and commissioners of the Board of Public Utilities to hold hearings regarding JCP&L's response to Hurricane Irene.

As of Thursday morning, First Energy Corporation is reporting that more than 18,000 customers are still without power in Monmouth County.


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