Our vegetation management program ensures that transmission lines remain clear of growth that could threaten the safe operations of power lines and that access roads remain clear. The area directly beneath a transmission line must be kept clear of any trees that could interfere with power lines, while the area immediately adjacent to this zone can have higher growth, as long as it does not impede the lines. Our program also targets diseased, dead, dying, or leaning trees or limbs near power lines that
have the potential to cause power outages.
In order to achieve this, we have established cycles of tree pruning and vegetation management to reduce tree-related outages and hazards. This includes removing trees that could grow tall enough to pose a hazard, along with weakened or dead trees near the right-of-way. We will prune or remove any diseased, dying or leaning trees that could cause a power outage. We will also use herbicides approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to control fast-growing vegetation within these corridors so that unwanted growth does not interfere with access to power lines.
We use both on-the-ground and aerial inspections to ensure the growth around power lines and access roads is maintained, and we will occasionally use a helicopter equipped with an aerial saw for hard-to-access terrain.
