CONTACT: Dianne Dienstein October 22, 1997 CPUC - 102
415-703-2423 (I.94-06-012)

CPUC AFFIRMS UTILITY TREE-TRIMMING SCHEDULE,

EXEMPTS LARGE TRUNK TREES

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today reaffirmed the schedule utilities must adhere to in trimming trees in their service territories to minimize fire and safety risks, and exempted established trees with trunks more than six but less than eighteen inches from overhead lines from the requirement to be trimmed at least 18 inches away from overhead power lines.

In January 1997, the Commission established tree trimming standards which apply not only to the investor-owned utilities it regulates - Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), Southern California Edison (Edison), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Pacific Power & Light, and Sierra Pacific Power - but also to municipal utilities because the Commission has safety authority over both investor-owned and municipal utilities. At that time, the Commission set a two-year schedule by which utilities must complete tree-trimming in their entire service area. The goal is to minimize contact of vegetation with power lines to prevent outages or fires, particularly during rough weather.

PG&E asked the Commission to extend the deadline for the schedule an additional 18 months, however, today, the Commission declined to do so. The Commission did modify the schedule to require 1/3 of the total number of trees trimmed by the end of 12 months, 2/3 by 18 months, and all by February 1999 - the two-year deadline set by its January decision.

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CPUC REAFFIRMS UTILITY TREE TRIMMING SCHEDULE - 2

PG&E also asked the Commission to exempt (54,000) old established trees whose trunks are more than six, but less than 18 inches from an overhead line from literal application of the required clearances. PG&E explained that many of them are in aesthetically sensitive communities such as Carmel, and in parks or rural areas, that they pose minimal risk of contact with overhead lines and have safely coexisted with overhead lines in these areas for decades because even the most flexible of them do not move appreciably in severe wind, and their removal would be prohibitively costly ($216 million), pose risk to employees attempting to do the removal, and be destructive to the aesthetics of the surrounding environment.

PG&E's request to exempt these established trees was supported by 13 local governments as well as Edison and SDG&E, and Local 1245, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO. The Commission agreed to this exemption.