Federal Parks Officials OK NJ-PA Power Line

Federal parks officials have given final approval for a new high-voltage power line that will run through the recreation area spanning Pennsylvania and New Jersey on either side of the Delaware River.

Utility officials say the Susquehanna-Roseland line will double the capacity and the height of power lines. They say the project is necessary to avoid power problems that could result in brownouts or blackouts.

Environmentalists, though, fear it will ruin views at the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and keep coal-fired plants open by enabling them sell power to East Coast customers.

The roughly $1 billion project would raise the lines' capacity from 230-kilovolts to 500-kilovolts and raise towers to as high as 190 feet tall. It will run through 16 municipalities in northwestern New Jersey.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)