12 12 24 PSEG West Orange BOA ZB 24 06 PSEG 35 Mt Pleasant Ave Full Size

Page 111 1 they have, and I'm also a professional engineer in 11 2 states. 3 And I am also -- and one of those 4 states happens to be New Jersey. 5 Q. And do you provide your expertise in 6 any matters? 7 A. Would you ask that question again, 8 please? 9 Q. Do you provide your expertise in any 10 matters and if so, what would those matters be? 11 A. I have testified before the Rhode 12 Island Public Utilities Commission on some matters 13 relating to Rhode Island energy on plans they're 14 wanting to do. That occurred, I want to say, about 15 six to eight months ago on what they're doing in 16 Rhode Island. 17 And I have also, in the course of my 18 work with utilities as manager of engineering, 19 appeared before zoning boards and city and county 20 commissioners to get approval for not only 21 substations but also upgrades, transmission lines and 22 other facilities that were needed to run the utility. 23 Q. Do you have any experience in the 24 design of substations such as that which is before 25 the board tonight, and if so, could you just

Page 112 1 elaborate on that, please? 2 A. I have been responsible for the design 3 of substations that -- the upper voltage is 230kV, 4 which I believe is what this site is, and have, over 5 the course of probably the last 25 years, have been 6 involved in 12 to 15 substation designs. 7 MR. TURTELTAUB: And what I'd like to 8 do, Mr. Chairman, if I could is have Mr. Blanton be 9 qualified as a civil engineer in this matter, as well 10 as with his understanding of electrical facilities, 11 substation facilities such as that's before the board 12 tonight. 13 THE WITNESS: I would like to qualify 14 that be as an electrical engineer, not a civil 15 engineer. 16 MR. TURTELTAUB: I'm sorry, an 17 electrical engineer. 18 My apologies. 19 CHAIRMAN NEUER: My silence is due to 20 taking notes. I am not ignoring either one of you. 21 So that, let's be more specific -- try 22 to be specific. The area of expertise, you're 23 seeking to qualify him as an electrical engineer with 24 experience in substation design. 25 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes.

Page 113 1 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Is that correct? 2 MR. TURTELTAUB: Yes. 3 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Board have questions 4 on qualifications? 5 MS. PORTER: Yes. 6 VOIR DIRE EXAMINATION 7 BY MS. PORTER: 8 Q. My question is what specific experience 9 does he have regarding switching stations? 10 A. This is a combination of switching 11 station and a step-down station to go from 230kV down 12 to the distribution voltage as shown on the plans of 13 26kV, and that has been the primary focus of my work, 14 but I've also been involved in designing ring bus 15 switching stations similar to what is existing on 16 this site that is not being -- nothing's being 17 changed as far as the transmission switching. 18 Q. And my only other question would be, 19 what specific experience do you have in New Jersey? 20 A. My experience in New Jersey is limited 21 to working with Sussex Electric co-op, where we were 22 assisting them on getting some transmission -- sub 23 transmission out of a couple of their existing 24 substations for some maintenance work they needed to 25 do.

Page 114 1 So my experience in New Jersey is 2 limited. 3 Q. Okay. So was that with respect to 4 transmission, not -- not specifically with respect to 5 replacement of equipment? 6 A. I have also been involved in numerous 7 substation upgrades or retrofits where you're 8 replacing existing equipment, and one large municipal 9 that we're working with now is upgrading their 10 substations, and we're doing two to three substation 11 upgrades a year where we're replacing old existing 12 equipment with newer equipment. 13 You know, and part of that work 14 involved having to maintain power during the entire 15 process to all the members and minimizing the impact 16 that we have with trees and having to stay lots of 17 times inside the existing perimeter of the substation 18 fence. 19 Q. Thank you. 20 But that experience was limited to 21 situations outside New Jersey, correct? 22 A. That is correct. 23 MS. PORTER: Thank you. 24 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Members of the Board, 25 any questions with respect to qualifications as an

Page 115 1 expert? 2 (No Response.) 3 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Seeing no hands. 4 Mr. Blanton, you said you have a New 5 Jersey license? 6 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 7 I'm a professional engineer in New 8 Jersey. 9 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Did you say 10 registered? 11 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 12 CHAIRMAN NEUER: You're not a 13 licensed -- 14 THE WITNESS: I am a professional 15 engineer -- I'm a professional engineer licensed to 16 do work in the State of New Jersey. 17 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Are you a licensed 18 professional engineer in the State of New Jersey? 19 THE WITNESS: That is correct, sir. 20 CHAIRMAN NEUER: For how long have you 21 been licensed in New Jersey? 22 THE WITNESS: I want to say it's only 23 been for about five years. 24 CHAIRMAN NEUER: During that period of 25 time -- during that period of time, has your license

Page 116 1 ever been suspended? 2 THE WITNESS: My license has never been 3 suspended. 4 I got my -- I am originally licensed as 5 a professional engineer in the state of North 6 Carolina, and I got that license in 19 -- 7 CHAIRMAN NEUER: That's okay. 8 THE WITNESS: -- 1989. 9 I had to look at the plaque on the wall 10 to see the exact date. 11 CHAIRMAN NEUER: And is your New Jersey 12 license currently in good standing? 13 THE WITNESS: Yes, it is. 14 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Then, Mr. Turteltaub, 15 I will recognize Mr. Blanton as an expert in the 16 field of professional -- as a licensed professional 17 engineer with experience in -- oh, I have one more 18 question. I wrote down that you said you've been a 19 consultant since 2017. 20 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir. 21 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Since 2017, have you 22 designed substation replacement or upgrade projects? 23 THE WITNESS: Since 2017, yes, sir. 24 We are working with, like I said, a 25 large municipality in the state of Virginia where

Page 117 1 they're replacing existing older equipment, and we're 2 doing two to three substations a year for them, and 3 we've been doing that for about five years. 4 CHAIRMAN NEUER: Okay. You answered my 5 question. 6 Thank you. 7 And as I was saying, you are accepted 8 as an expert, as a licensed professional engineer in 9 the State of New Jersey with experience in substation 10 design. 11 And I thank you. 12 DIRECT EXAMINATION 13 BY MR. TURTELTAUB: 14 Q. But just to qualify, one quick 15 question, Mr. Blanton, if you could. 16 When you talk about the design of a 17 substation in New Jersey versus North Carolina or 18 anywhere else you might design it, do -- does the 19 state matter in how you design it or is it the -- is 20 it the facility itself that tells you what you have 21 to do? 22 A. There are the National Electric Safety 23 Code and OSHA regulations how it has to be designed, 24 and they are the -- NESC and OSHA are -- have been 25 adopted by just about every state, and we design to

Page 118 1 those specs whether the state has adopted those 2 standards or not. Or if they've adopted something 3 more stringent, comply with that. 4 Q. And New Jersey, has it adopted those 5 standards or is it more stringent than that? 6 A. They have adopted those standards and 7 are not more stringent. 8 Q. And, in fact, have you done work 9 outside of the U.S. as well? 10 A. I have also worked in Pakistan for 11 about six months working with the distribution 12 utilities there to improve the reliability of their 13 substations and distribution lines. 14 Q. And your skills go there as well? 15 A. Yes, sir. 16 Q. So tonight we're here talking about a 17 substation facility upgrade that is going to happen, 18 PSE&G in West Orange, New Jersey. 19 If you could, for the benefit of the 20 board, to understand what your background is at least 21 in this project, can you describe for them what your 22 assignment was and what you've done to prepare for 23 that. 24 A. What I looked at, my assignment was to 25 look at how the new equipment is being installed in

Page 119 1 the substation, and if there was any way that the new 2 equipment could be moved or relocated or slid in some 3 manner that would possibly preserve trees on the 4 site. 5 You know, and again, there is no -- 6 there is nothing in the reports that I've seen that 7 describe the health of any of the trees that are 8 being removed, so I don't know if they need to be 9 removed because they are -- they have issues. 10 But I'll also go one step further and 11 go, I also understand the idea that sometimes the 12 utility needs to remove trees to maintain a high 13 degree of reliability. 14 We want to keep the power on because 15 that keeps everybody happy. 16 You know, I spent the majority of my 17 career being the one that was getting the call when 18 something major went out, and I had to go out there 19 and fix it. And we never wanted it to be due to a 20 tree falling in the line. 21 Q. So in terms of this site and the plan 22 that's before us, did you have a chance to review the 23 plans that are being presented by PSE&G? 24 A. Yes, I have. 25 I've looked at the site plan

Page 120 1 development for the substation -- the site plan for 2 the substation being -- equipment being added and 3 realizing that, you know, it is obvious that Public 4 Service is removing a lot of the old structures 5 coming off of the three transformers on this site. 6 Q. This type of work and this type of 7 project, in the description of the work that you were 8 giving before when we were getting you qualified as 9 an expert, is this the type of plans that you've 10 looked at before and something you're familiar with 11 this type of a plan in general. 12 I am not talking about this specific 13 plan, right now, but just generally, have you worked 14 with this type of a project? 15 A. Yes, with -- I've worked with this type 16 of project where we're -- again, we're replacing 17 older existing equipment with newer, more modern 18 equipment that will provide a higher degree of 19 reliability for everyone. 20 Q. Okay. And in your review of these 21 plans, did you note anything with respect to the 22 design of it and in particular, what are the issues 23 you had mentioned in your -- in your preamble, which 24 is the protection or minimization of the elimination 25 of existing trees; did you come up with anything on