In response to a growing chorus of complaints about denuded landscapes around high-voltage transmission lines, the Public Service Commission has instituted a policy review with the catchy title of Case 10-E-0155. June 16 is the deadline for public comment.

This image shows the extent of the 2003 Northeast blackout.The PSC instituted the current vegetation management policy in 2005, two years after a significant power outage. "The power utility failure of 2003 in Ohio, resulting in a Northeast blackout, was more the result of a malfunctioning, ancient electrical facility than two fallen trees on a wire, which is the Public Service Commission explanation," said Gerri Curral of the Sierra Club Lower Hudson Group.  `This decimation of tens of thousands of forest acreage with short and long term environmental and financial impacts has not, according to the PSC itself, been shown to be a proactive remedy to power outages."

In a press release, the GEF LORAX Working Group, a local environmental organization, offered this assessment: "The current Vegetation Management policies of the PSC and the programs defined by the various Transmission Operators in the state have led to severe economic, esthetic and environmental damage along the transmission rights-of-way due to excessive removal and clear-cutting of all trees and vegetation as well as insufficient or inadequate follow-up mitigation."

For further information, see below and the NYSPSC website and 10-E-0155 case docket, available here [Click on case-related commission documents; the earliest files describe the proceeding, etc.] 

For more information and background documentation, visit http://loraxwg.blogspot.com.

Submit comments or complaints to the PSC (via phone, website, mail or email):

Email:                        

secretary@dps.state.ny.us (Subject: Case 10-E-0155)

Toll-free line:            

800-335-2120 (reference Case 10-E-0155)

Mailing address:      

Public Service Commission
Jaclyn A. Brilling, Secretary
Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223