4 communities fighting clear-cutting by utility

**Meddle** · February-22-10, 05:56 AM

[quote]
Posted: Feb. 22, 2010

4 communities fighting clear-cutting by utility

BY BILL LAITNER
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

After a year of hearing residents complain, four communities in southeast Michigan took action this month against a statewide utility that is clear-cutting trees and shrubs near its high-voltage lines, and leaving behind unsightly tree stumps.

But Novi-based ITC Holdings said the clearing is necessary to comply with federal mandates passed after the nation's big blackout of 2003 that require a zero tolerance of outages and threaten fines of up to $1 million if a tree hits a wire.

The company's easements that abut thousands of homes and businesses give it broad legal rights beside its 8,000 miles of wires throughout the Lower Peninsula, ITC officials said.

Full article...
http://freep.com/article/20100222/NE...ing-by-utility

Contact BILL LAITNER: 586-826-7264 or blaitner@freepress.com[/quote"]blaitner@freepress.com"]blaitner@freepress.com[/EMAIL][/quote[/EMAIL]]

**Meddle** · February-22-10, 05:57 AM

These will be the same people who will be throwing hissy-fits the next time the power goes out in a storm due to fallen trees.

**Hermod** · February-22-10, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by Meddle

These will be the same people who will be throwing hissy-fits the next time the power goes out in a storm due to fallen trees.

Same here in Florida. The homeowners piss and moan about the electric company cutting their "beautiful trees". When we have a hurricane, they wonder why they lose electric power for two weeks.

**Lowell** · February-22-10, 09:26 AM

I think this is a both-are-wrong issue. Electrical power transmission should be required to be placed underground, like gas is. This is done in some localities and big time in places like Germany. Not only does it virtually elimate storm outages, it is aesthetically pleasing as not buzzing lines block the skyviews and threaten electrocution. More expensive to install, less expensive in the long run.

**DanFromDetroit** · February-22-10, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Lowell

I think this is a both-are-wrong issue. Electrical power transmission should be required to be placed underground, like gas is. This is done in some localities and big time in places like Germany. Not only does it virtually elimate storm outages, it is aesthetically pleasing as not buzzing lines block the skyviews and threaten electrocution. More expensive to install, less expensive in the long run.

As someone who works in the utility power industry I'd like to ask where the millions upon millions of upgrade funds would come from?

**jtf1972** · February-22-10, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by DanFromDetroit

As someone who works in the utility power industry I'd like to ask where the millions upon millions of upgrade funds would come from?

Not Washington. They'll be too busy funding Iraq's initiative to put their power lines underground.

**Meddle** · February-22-10, 09:56 AM

Easy enough to do on initial development.

A real bear to do as a retrofit.

**Hermod** · February-22-10, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Lowell

I think this is a both-are-wrong issue. Electrical power transmission should be required to be placed underground, like gas is. This is done in some localities and big time in places like Germany. Not only does it virtually elimate storm outages, it is aesthetically pleasing as not buzzing lines block the skyviews and threaten electrocution. More expensive to install, less expensive in the long run.

If the water table is high, it may be subject to frequent outages. When there is a failure in underground lines, it is far more expensive to fix.

**Detroitnerd** · February-22-10, 12:58 PM

So then they sell the timber for profit?

**1KielsonDrive** · February-22-10, 03:17 PM

A childhood friend of mine sat in his tree last fall to protest ITC's clear cutting of his and other trees in his Ypsilanti neighborhood. His neighbor's have since joined him in his protest. I haven't been to his home to view his trees but I've seen others in the area that were scheduled for major trimming and/or removal. It seems to me to be overkill on ITC's part. And they're passing the buck blaming others for their unnecessary clearing.

**Gistok** · February-22-10, 03:45 PM

What is ITC's relationship with DTE Energy? The article mentions Detroit Edison as ITC's previous name.... that doesn't sound right... unless they're a spun off former subsidiary.

**M CD M** · February-22-10, 07:39 PM

The high transmission lines that run all over the area were owned by DTE, but now are owned by ITC. When the change happened, I don't know.
I know from around me, they do take good care of the corridors.
Cutting grass, trimming tree's. clearing snow on sidewalks that cross the corridor.
But the majority of the corridors are very treeless south of hall rd.

Are the people with issues have the single tower corridors, or the multiple rows of towers?

**hhockey** · February-22-10, 07:43 PM

I can understand clear cutting if a tree is actually going to interfere with a power line.The problem with ITC is that they are cutting down trees that would never reach the height of their high power lines. In my community they cut down 10 trees that where at most 30 feet from coming close to their power lines.

**RO_Resident** · February-22-10, 07:43 PM

ITC was spun off of DTE. They own all of the high voltage lines formerly owned by DTE and Consumers Power.

**EMG** · February-22-10, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by Meddle

These will be the same people who will be throwing hissy-fits the next time the power goes out in a storm due to fallen trees.

Exactly......

**MikeM** · February-22-10, 09:07 PM

Originally Posted by hhockey

I can understand clear cutting if a tree is actually going to interfere with a power line.The problem with ITC is that they are cutting down trees that would never reach the height of their high power lines. In my community they cut down 10 trees that where at most 30 feet from coming close to their power lines.

A tree doesn't need to make contact with a conductor to create a short circuit. Also, it might be several years before the utility can get back through the area to trim the trees again, so they trim them enough to allow several years of growth without interference. Tree contact was one of the major causes of the 2003 blackout. One of the lines that tripped out due to tree contact had a crew working to clear vegetation along its corridor, and they were just several hundred feet from where the line contacted a tree that had yet to be trimmed.

**MikeM** · February-22-10, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

I think this is a both-are-wrong issue. Electrical power transmission should be required to be placed underground, like gas is. This is done in some localities and big time in places like Germany. Not only does it virtually elimate storm outages, it is aesthetically pleasing as not buzzing lines block the skyviews and threaten electrocution. More expensive to install, less expensive in the long run.

Besides being 20 times or more expensive to install, underground transmission lines actually spend more time out of service than overhead lines. A good primer: http://www.aep.com/about/i765project...sOVHDPaper.pdf

**Lowell** · February-22-10, 10:18 PM

^Costly yes, but it would make aviation safer too.

**Trumpeteer** · February-22-10, 10:37 PM

Man if a pilot can't avoid a transmission line maybe another hobby/career is in order????

**MikeM** · February-22-10, 10:48 PM

They're like spider webs for helicopters.

**Hermod** · February-23-10, 05:29 AM

Originally Posted by MikeM

They're like spider webs for helicopters.

95% of the helicopters don't need to be in the air either.

**Meddle** · February-23-10, 05:38 AM

Originally Posted by Hermod

95% of the helicopters don't need to be in the air either.

So true.

I had a hard time feeling sorry for the two news chopper crews that crashed into each other out west a few years back.

----------

Most power lines in residential areas are 75 feet or less off the ground. No reason at all for a chopper to be that low unless it's a med chopper landing at an accident scene.

**Jimaz** · February-23-10, 12:32 PM

I had a chat with a guy who was scoping out a tree trimming job along some high tension lines. [[This was in a remote park so there was no one objecting to it.)

He explained that they plant species of vegetation that displace future tree growth. I thought that was pretty clever.

**Detroitnerd** · February-23-10, 01:26 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

I had a chat with a guy who was scoping out a tree trimming job along some high tension lines. [[This was in a remote park so there was no one objecting to it.)

He explained that they plant species of vegetation that displace future tree growth. I thought that was pretty clever.

Better than salting the earth, I guess.

**Crystal** · February-23-10, 01:38 PM

"These will be the same people who will be throwing hissy-fits the next time the power goes out in a storm due to fallen trees."

I was going to type this same message! Might have used tantrums instead of hissy-fits, but hissy-fits works well, too.