WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation

Administration on Thursday said it was temporarily barring drone

flights over 22 utility locations in New Jersey amid public

concern.

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

sites was made in an abundance of caution at the request of

federal security agencies after the agency barred flights over

two locations in New Jersey in November.

The new locations across the state include PSE&G

electrical switching stations, substations, generating stations,

a utility command center and other facilities in places like

Elizabeth, Edison, South Brunswick, Camden, Metuchen and

Bridgewater.

PSE&G did not immediately comment.

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 Department of Homeland Security noted that 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

U.S. President-elect Donald 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.