Remember back in 2009 when the ice storm to end all ice storms came through Northwest Arkansas?
Yes, we’d like to block that from our memories, too, but we can’t.
We recall the freezing rain and sleet building up on trees until the snap, crackle and pop started.
The weight slowly grew until tree limbs - and in some cases, entire trees - couldn’t put up one more ounce of resistance. With every crack, the question arose: Will this be the one that leaves me without electricity?
Now fl ash forward to September 2012 when yet again cries of dissatisfaction arose from property owners who watched as a treecutting service hired by Southwestern Electric Power Co. did theirwork around power lines.
The company earns its pay. Its employees know how to cut trees.
“They didn’t cut the trees, they butchered the trees,” said Jim Sawyer, who owns a business in Rogers near where the assault took place. “They just lopped the limbs completely off one side of several trees on Olrich Street. It looks horrible.”
Utilities have rights of way around their lines.
That is, they have a zone of authority around the lines. We consumers expect them to operate and maintain those lines in a fashion that ensures power won’t go out just as Ryan Seacrest announces who got voted off “American Idol” this week.
When something intrudes on those rights of way, one can expect the utility to, eventually, respond with a vengeance.
“It’s a matter of reliability and liability,” said Peter Main, Swepco spokesman. “During storms or when the wind is high, trees in the right of way can cause power outages impacting dozens or hundreds of customers. We have to trim the limbs to reduce outages where possible.”
As often as this activity outrages property owners, one gets the sense the power company has given up on trying to wrap up what they have to do in a nice package. The trucks just roll in one day, and the cutting is done before anyone can really react. For a company that works so hard to prevent shock, the tree-cutting aspects of the business deliver plenty of it.
Residents always accuse the company of overkill.
The company says it’s necessary, and even their most severe critic doesn’t argue the point.
One almost expects people to stop being surprised by it all. Then the trucks roll into a new neighborhood, limbs fall and the outcry is renewed.
What is anyone to do?
Frankly, not that much. We chalk this up as a necessary evil all the public relations work in the world wouldn’t make any more palatable. When trees and power lines clash, the power lines win.
Every time.
Honestly, residents and businesses have a high expectation the utility does whatever it takes to secure the power grid. In this age, we rely on it.
The tree-cutting indeed looks horrible. That’s why Swepco and other utilities advise homeowners to carefully evaluate any species they might plant to ensure they do not grow tall or wide enough to interfere with lines or get close to them.
The simple truth is tree limbs near power lines are dangerous. The power company is going to go to great strides not just to reduce, but eliminate that danger.
Doing anything short of that would leave us in the Dark Ages.
Opinion, Pages 5 on 09/26/2012