I thought it was PG that took the brunt of long power outages, Montgomery County can afford better maintenance We just had utility guys out at the property late last week taking down trees next to power lines and they cut the tops of a ton of trees along back where our power comes from toward the west, so still likely to lose power, but probably not for as long. I was cussing them a bit last week for me being able to see too much sun on the road out, but suddenly I am more appreciative of their cutting
True. But the issue is that doing it by neighborhood by neighborhood won't solve problems since you still have above ground lines going to your neighborhood. From WaPo: The consultants analyzed three major options: burying virtually all power lines, burying only major distribution lines, and undergrounding both distribution lines and neighborhood feeders.For $1.1 billion, the study found, primary distribution lines could be buried, eliminating 65 percent of customer outages related to overhead lines. At about double that cost, primary and secondary lines could be placed underground, cutting 87 percent of overhead outages. Burying all overhead lines, including household service lines, would cost $5.8 billion and could prevent more than 1,000 annual outage incidents.
Case in point: Montgomery Village. All our lines are buried, but we still rely on above-ground feeder lines elsewhere.
Rainfall prediction. Lower Delaware is supposed to get drenched. Since it is the stronghold of the Tea Party in the state, I hope to hear plenty of folks refusing FEMA aid on principle. It's also where all the retirees come because of low taxes and proximity to the beach. I don't want to hear any complaining from them either.
Silver Spring? Rockville? I am near College Park. Lost only two days with the duratio in July. Hopefully we don't get hit too hard.
It is the trees hovering over power lines that are the cause of the problem in the DC area. I hate hearing the politicians talking about fining the utility companies when they have done little to resolve this issue. No one wants the power outage but that duratio was something else. I was at my mom's house that night and saw the outdoor furniture flying off hitting her car. The utility companies had their people working 18 hour shifts in incredible heat to fix things up. There is only so much that can be done.
I'm not sure what you are getting at here. Utilities have the responsibility of of trimming trees around power lines.
And the municipalities are the ones that allow trees to be planted near those lines. It not the responsibility of the utilities alone. The politicians cannot use the blame game.
Yikes. However, my earlier post needs updating regarding the house we own in SW PA is no longer ours. We had a closing scheduled for today, then it was tentatively scheduled for today, then it was sort of tentatively scheduled for next Friday, and then it was back on for today. Our realtor tells us it's done. That being said, I hope the new owner doesn't get water in the basement like we did our first month from Frances and Ivan. That map, however, says "Yikes! Indeed," to that statement.
I'm not a lawyer but the utilities have in effect an easement to run those line within a public right-of-way. Its a limited ownership right which doesn't mean that the property owner, in this case the municipality has to take steps to prevent the possibility of damage to the lines. Of course the property owner can't do anything that definitely will cause damage to utilities. That's why you have to check an area before you dig.
The problem is there has been little planning concerning the planting of trees along utility poles. There are roads along Northeast Washington where the roots of these trees are ripping the sidewalks and even the roads. Then there is shock that a bad storm has uprooted these trees. I have no use for politicians that get on the air or papers and cry foul against the utility companies when they have done nothing to resolve the problem. They are just as responsible if not more.
An easement shouldn't restrict someones use of property and if it is in the public interest to have trees in the right-of-way they should be there. If I was to call out anyone in addition to the utilities it would be those who complain about tree-trimming and blackouts.
not to be flippant, but what happens to underground power lines in the event of an earthquake? I would think it's still easier to fix downed power lines above ground, than severed power lines under ground, where you may have gas leaks/fires to contend with as well. no?
Interestingly, I just checked the long range Accuweather forecast, and they still have less than an inch on tuesday and wednesday for the places I routinely check.
They won't start ramping it out until they start getting more sure in a day or two. NOAA is still just showing chance of rain for us.
That is my problem with the politicians who use the media to complain and make the utility companies the bad guys. It does nothing but frustrate their constituents. When these storms come through, they create a lot of damage. This is nothing new. Yet, instead of looking at solutions to alleviate the problem, we get nothing but hot air. I know PEPCO has done a lot of tree trimming in the DC area. But the local municipalities must also take responsibility to manage trees and how they are planted as well.
In effect the utilities are being given permission to encroaching on public space. That's burden enough. There is no reason that the landowner needs to take additional steps to accommodate the utility. If you don't like trees in public right-of-ways just say that rather than insist that trees on public land should be cut back and maintained by the public to the benefit of a private enterprise. Besides there is good reason to suspect that PEPCO is negligent with maintenance in this area. I live in an area of Annapolis with old trees & overhead lines & I thought I'd have outages all of the time. I've had none during the major storms and only one that lasted for an hour when I wasn't at home. Of course I'm served by BG&E not PEPCO.
The property owners are the local municipalities or the county. It is not whether I like the trees or not, it is about taking responsibility in managing those trees. The ones in my back yard are my responsibility and I got hit pretty bad with a microburst during the 2006 WC semifinal between Italy and Germany. I was at my sister's place in South Carolina and my next door neighbor called me. He told me the house was OK and not to worry about it. Luckily, the damaged trunks fell all in my back yard. It was a mess but the damage was limited. I also have two trees on the county strip in front of my house. One of those trees were damaged. A few weeks ago, a limb from that tree broke off and laid on top of my power line. PEPCO took care of it after I called them. As I wrote before, there are trees throughout the area that not only cause problems if they get uprooted but whose roots damage the sidewalks and roads. I don't care for politicians who ignore these trees and they cry foul when they go down. They are part of the problem too.
There is a difference. If a utility gets an easement to put a utility across your property (and your permission is not required) are you going to maintain trees on your property at your expense in a way that benefits them? A simplistic way to sum this up. Utilities are being done a favor being allowed to run utilities across someone else's land. They are pushing their favor if they say that the landowner has to maintain the trees to benefit the trespasser (not literal).