WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation

Administration on Thursday said it was temporarily barring drone

flights over 22 utility locations in New Jersey and plans to

impose similar restrictions at sites in New York.

The FAA said the decision to bar drones for 30 days at the

New Jersey sites was made in an abundance of caution at the

request of federal security agencies after the FAA barred

flights over two locations in New Jersey in November.

A frenzy of concern about drones in New Jersey and

surrounding states has prompted a dramatic spike in the number

of people in the area pointing lasers at airplanes flying

overhead, which is illegal and can be dangerous, the FAA said on

Wednesday.

U.S. agencies have repeatedly said that the spike in drone

sightings does not pose national security risks and that they

appear to be mostly aircraft, stars or hobbyist drones.

The locations subject to the temporary ban across New Jersey

include PSE&G electrical switching stations,

substations, generating stations, a utility command center and

other facilities in places including Elizabeth, Edison, South

Brunswick, Camden, Metuchen and Bridgewater.

The FAA plans to temporarily bar drone flights over

critical infrastructure locations in New York, the state's

governor said late on Thursday.

Governor Kathy Hochul said in a statement she had spoken

to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and he told

her the FAA planned to grant temporary flight restrictions over

some of New York's critical infrastructure sites.

"This action is purely precautionary; there are no

threats to these sites," Hochul said.

The FAA, which did not immediately comment, is expected to

post the New York sites by Friday. The FAA also said on Thursday

that it was extending prohibitions on drones over

President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in Bedminster, New

Jersey, through Jan. 31.

The Department of Homeland Security said the restrictions

"do not impact manned aviation including airplanes and

helicopters. While DHS and our federal partners continue to see

no evidence of a threat, the purpose of the TFR is to discourage

drone flights around these areas, as requested by the critical

infrastructure partners."

The FAA said on Wednesday that reports are up 269% to 59 in

the first half of December, compared with eight in the same

period last year. The FAA said it has received dozens of new

laser reports from pilots in New Jersey, New York and

Pennsylvania airspace.

The FBI in New Jersey warned people on Wednesday not to

shoot at suspected drones or point lasers at them, warning that

"there could be dangerous and possibly deadly consequences if

manned aircraft are targeted mistakenly" as drones.

Officials have repeatedly said that most of the large

fixed-wing sightings involved manned aircraft, and came after

Trump on Monday called for more federal comment on the reported

sightings.

There are about 1 million registered drones flying about 42

million flights annually.