PG&E Clearcutting along power lines in Sonoma County
There has been a major change in how PG&E is planning to manage the vegetation under the high voltage power lines which span 37 miles in Sonoma County. These lines run from Lakeville Road in the South to the Geysers, where power is generated using geothermal resources.
When vegetation grows too close to these power lines there are significant health and safety issues. For many years PG&E's policy has been to trim the tops from trees and other vegetation that came within a specified distance of the power lines. They now plan to clear all vegetation under the power lines. This will kill thousands of trees and create a terrible scar many miles long upon the land.
PG&E is responsible to maintain electricity service in a way that is safe and protects the public from power line failures and mishaps. We recognize and support this duty. However, the new clearcut policy is deeply flawed. It is needlessly aggressive and has a number of unintended consequences, including:
- Loss of thousands of trees, many of which will never impact the power lines.
- Loss of habitat, which may include significant impacts on endangered or protected species.
- Erosion from impacts of clear cutting directly over streams and headwater areas (see video on this page).
- Fire danger from tree refuse left behind (they do not clean up the felled trees and vegetation).
- Damage to water habitats impacting fish and other wildlife, through silting and stream degradation.
- Severe impact on the viewshed and scenic qualities of miles of Sonoma County.
- Devaluation of home and property values.
This new policy has the potential to impact both public and private lands. It is in direct opposition to existing policies for protection of open space and scenic corridors. It appears to have been adopted with no regard for environmental impact studies and Sonoma County vegetation regulations.
A group of concerned citizens is taking action to counter PG&E's clearcutting plans. Our goal is simple, reasonable, and reflects the values of the people of Sonoma County. We are committed to ensuring that PG&E immediately cease all indiscriminate clear cutting along the power line easement, and return to a regularly scheduled, ongoing maintenance program of selective pruning and topping of only those trees and plants that pose a hazard; and that they do so with adequate, transparent, and accurate notification of landowners.
For more information please visit our website at
www.sos-trees.org.
Re: PG&E Clearcutting along power lines in Sonoma County
After watching the consequences of PG&E's prior policy for as long as they've been doing it in the Cazadero hills, I have to disagree with you. What the topping of the trees does is:
. ruin the tree
. give very brief protection from the danger of a tree on a hot wire
It seemed to lots of folks out there that this was a real lose-lose policy.
Sara S.
Quote:
Posted in reply to the post by maclifford:
There has been a major change in how PG&E is planning to manage the vegetation under the high voltage power lines which span 37 miles in Sonoma County. These lines run from Lakeville Road in the South to the Geysers, where power is generated using geothermal resources.
When vegetation grows too close to these power lines there are significant health and safety issues. For many years PG&E's policy has been to trim the tops from trees and other vegetation that came within a specified distance of the power lines. They now plan to clear all vegetation under the power lines. This will kill thousands of trees and create a terrible scar many miles long upon the land.
PG&E is responsible to maintain electricity service in a way that is safe and protects the public from power line failures and mishaps. We recognize and support this duty. However, the new clearcut policy is deeply flawed. It is needlessly aggressive and has a number of unintended consequences, including:
- Loss of thousands of trees, many of which will never impact the power lines.
- Loss of habitat, which may include significant impacts on endangered or protected species.
- Erosion from impacts of clear cutting directly over streams and headwater areas (see video on this page).
- Fire danger from tree refuse left behind (they do not clean up the felled trees and vegetation).
- Damage to water habitats impacting fish and other wildlife, through silting and stream degradation.
- Severe impact on the viewshed and scenic qualities of miles of Sonoma County.
- Devaluation of home and property values.
This new policy has the potential to impact both public and private lands. It is in direct opposition to existing policies for protection of open space and scenic corridors. It appears to have been adopted with no regard for environmental impact studies and Sonoma County vegetation regulations.
A group of concerned citizens is taking action to counter PG&E's clearcutting plans. Our goal is simple, reasonable, and reflects the values of the people of Sonoma County. We are committed to ensuring that PG&E immediately cease all indiscriminate clear cutting along the power line easement, and return to a regularly scheduled, ongoing maintenance program of selective pruning and topping of only those trees and plants that pose a hazard; and that they do so with adequate, transparent, and accurate notification of landowners.
For more information please visit our website at
www.sos-trees.org.
