Electric company tries to cool tree-trimming debate

CINCINNATI (AP) — Duke Energy Corp. tried Friday to cool a heated debate about trimming trees near power lines in southwest Ohio with a plan that satisfies area leaders, if not all residents.

Residents in Green and Miami townships in Hamilton County had opposed Duke’s plans to cut down trees in their yards that might grow too close to transmission lines in the future. After meeting with trustees Friday, Duke instead agreed to prune first and monitor the potentially hazardous trees.

“What is important is that we are looking to keep trees there, if at all possible, if they will not be a threat now or in the six-year [trimming] cycle,” Duke spokeswoman Kathy Meinke said.

Until Duke meets with customers to assess which trees will be affected, the company’s Ohio and Kentucky operations have suspended all nonemergency pruning and cutting near transmission lines, which connect to service towers. The suspension does not affect lower-voltage distribution lines along most streets and is limited to Ohio and Kentucky, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company said.

Miami Township Trustee Joe Sykes, who attended the meeting with Duke, was pleased with the agreement, but acknowledged that it wouldn’t appease everyone.

Mark Wegman, a Green Township resident, said it falls short of what residents hoped for. He worries that loopholes will allow Duke to unnecessarily chop trees.

“What we want them to do is say that they’re not going to take our trees,” he said.

Near Cleveland earlier this year, complaints of aggressive pruning were raised against FirstEnergy Corp. The Akron-based utility was blamed in a massive blackout across the Northeast in August 2003 in which wire contact with trees contributed.

After that, federal regulators mandated stricter vegetation management plans.

Meinke said the local conflict underscores how power companies try to be diligent about the vegetation while keeping customers happy.

Matt Butler, a spokesman for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, which regulates the state’s investor-owned utilities, said power companies are being more attentive but not necessarily more aggressive since the blackout.

That sits better with some customers than with others.

Through June 24, the commission received more than 60 tree-related inquiries from Ohio residents regarding seven power companies. About as many people were requesting trimming, cutting or debris removal, as complained about the results of tree-trimming.