Trees & Power

• Benefits of Trees as stated by the Urban Forestry Division of the CT Department of Energy and  Environmental Protection (DEEP) with helpful links.
• Benefits of Roadside Trees Article by Edward Faison at Highstead (2022).
• Communicating the Health Benefits of Urban Trees and Green Space, a research summary compiled by the USDA Forest Service in 2018.
• Abstracts from three peer-reviewed journal articles showing critical links between public health and green spaces.
• List of research papers on the connections between climate change and public health compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
• Growing Shade & Enhancing the Urban Canopy: A Tree Canopy Improvement Strategy for the City of Norwalk published by WestCog in 2018.
• Hartford Connecticut’s Tree Canopy Action Plan 2020 is a comprehensive examination of the benefits of the urban tree canopy, planning to increase it and of the proper planting, care of urban trees and reuse of wood from removed trees.  The plan has not yet been formally adopted by the City of Hartford, but is under consideration.
• “In Defense of Tall Trees” by Chris Donnelly, published in CFPA’s Connecticut Woodlands Magazine, Winter 2015, Vol. 79, No. 4. As the article states, tall trees provide many of these benefits to a greater extent than smaller stature trees.
• Baltimore Trust’s efforts to plant trees to filter stormwater runoff. 
• Big, old trees continue to grow and capture increasing amounts of carbon, LA Times news report of a study reported in Nature (2014).
• Excerpts from “22 Benefits of Urban Street Trees” by Dan Burden, Senior Urban Designer Glatting Jackson, and Walkable Communities, Inc (2006).
• “Greening Our Streets,”  by F. Kaid Benfield, Huffington Post.  Discussion of tree planting policies in a number of cities and the benefits of such policies (2015).​
• “Out on a Limb:  The Future of Trees in Cities,” by Chloe Medosch, Gizmodo (2015).
  
• Web article from The Canopy Project on the benefits of tree canopy to public health in cities (2022).
• The article, “Think About Your Urban Trees Before Planting Them . . .” (December 6, 2013), discusses the benefits of street trees and how trees can be planted to maximize their benefits.  It also discusses how disposing of trees after they have been cut down can increase carbon emissions, depending on the method used.  Thus, removal of healthy large trees not only eliminates beneficial carbon reduction, but is likely to increase carbon emissions. 
• Urban Silviculture guide to Managing and Restoring Forests in Cities from the USDA Forest Service and Natural Areas Conservancy, 2022.

• • Click Swarthmore Street to see the results of using I-Tree on this Hamden street. 
    NOTE:  This calculation is not the basis for the damages and penalties that could be recovered for unauthorized removal or pruning of trees and shrubs under CT law. 
• “Assessment of the Environmental Service Benefits of the City of New Haven’s Street Tree Population”
  by Suzanne Oversvee, Master’s Project, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Spring, 2007

• Any new tree to be planted in the UPZ should be compatible with the utility infrastructure, known as a “right tree/ right place” tree.  The UPZ is a defined rectangular space that is bounded by a horizontal line 8 feet out from the outermost wire or conductor on either side of the distribution system, from ground to sky.  Care should also be taken not to plant a tree on private property that could encroach into the UPZ in a way that would require pruning.
• A chart included in the State Vegetation Management Report lists trees and shrubs that are compatible with the utility infrastructure.  Existing tall mature trees can, however, remain if they can be pruned in accordance with professional pruning standards to be compatible with the utility infrastructure.

• For general information on selection, planting and care of trees, including trees near electric distribution wires, see CT Tree Planting and Maintenance, by the Urban Forestry Division of the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP).
• Also, the New Haven Urban Resource Initiative: STREET TREE CHARACTERISTIC CHART is an excellent guide to what trees are appropriate for planting along streets, especially in New Haven, and can be used elsewhere based on the detailed information provided about each tree.  The chart indicates which trees may be planted under electric distribution wires.

• The Forestry Division of the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) website identifies reasons for removal of trees in the urban forest and how the wood can be used.
• For a thorough discussion of this subject, read The Use of Wood from Urban and Municipal Trees, by Chris Donnelly, Urban Forestry Coordinator, and Gabriela Doria, Research Assistant, CT DEEP Division of Forestry, June 2014.
• “Think About Your Urban Trees Before Planting Them . . .” (Next City, December 6, 2013), briefly discusses the impact on carbon emissions of different methods of disposing of trees after they have been cut down.
• Hartford Connecticut’s Tree Canopy Action Plan 2020 has a section dealing with “wood waste utilization,” at pp. 100-104.

NOTE:  After reading the following, for important details consult
Flow Chart on Legal Requirements

Tree wardens should post all trees, including hazardous trees, scheduled for removal or substantial pruning, and must hold a public hearing on such plans if there is an objection from any person.  Any person may appeal a decision by the tree warden to PURA following such a hearing. The tree warden has 3 days to decide and an appeal from the decision must be filed within ten calendar days of the decision.  This is a different appeal process than that described in below. 

1. Photograph trees and shrubs from all sides and angles before cutting begins and look for direct contact between electric distribution wires and your street trees!  Take photos of your street trees to have a dated record of their condition. Make note of your position and angle, and, if pruning occurs, take a photo from the same position and angle to document any violation of the law.  This is especially important because the normal notice processes, as set forth below, are not used if there is direct contact between electric distribution wires (the highest wires) and your street trees.  If there is, you may want to inform your electric utility of the contact, and then make sure that it prunes only to remove that contact by being present when pruning take place.  Get their commitment, in writing if possible, that they will not prune without your presence. File a complaint with UI or Eversource, and with your tree warden and chief elected official (mayor, first selectman)  In the event that your trees are pruned or removed without a permit, without notice and an opportunity to object or request a modification, or contrary to an agreement reached not to remove a tree or to prune it in a particular way, complain to the utility and if you are not satisfied with the response, file a complaint with PURA.
2. Read notices from CL&P or UI and comply with the deadlines for objection or a request for modification.  You should contact the utility to find out about the utility’s plans, but do not miss a deadline as you seek information or try to reach an agreement informally.  The notice should provide the address of the tree warden or DOT to whom you must send a written objection or request for modification.
3. Exercise your rights when you receive a notice (1) to object or request a modification within ten (10) business days of receiving the notice for proposed pruning or removal within the public right-of-way; and (2) to refuse consent for removal or pruning of trees solely on your private land, if you disagree with the utility’s planned action.  Except for hazardous trees, the utility cannot prune or remove a tree on private property without the affirmative written consent of the property owner. Do not allow any pruning or removal for which the utility does not have a permit from the municipal tree warden or DOT.

• Notice of utility pruning and removal.  If the notice is delivered to you in person by a utility work planner, ask for a detailed explanation of the work to be done while looking at the tree or shrub and ask for that explanation in writing.  If there is no in person delivery, you can phone or e-mail the utility to ask about the proposed work, but be careful not to miss a deadline while waiting for a response.  The notice may be mailed to you in an envelope or placed on your door in a “door hanger.”  By law, it can be delivered by e-mail or text, but, for now, the utilities are not using that method.  NOTE:  PURA is also requiring utilities to provide notice by e-mail, fax, personal contact, or, it those fail, certified mail with return receipt prior to beginning pruning or removal.  It is currently unclear when such notice is to take place.  Records of the contact are to be retained for 24 months.  In addition,  UI has been sending a letter notifying everyone along a street/road where it will be pruning or removing trees and shrubs, before it provides the legally required notice.  It is an alert that one should be looking for a notice and inquiring if one isn’t received.
• Read the notice immediately and be sure to meet the deadlines set forth in the notice.  You must receive it fifteen (15) business days prior to commencement of utility pruning or removal.  Consider sending your written objection or request for modification by certified mail, return receipt requested, even if you use the option of e-mailing your objection or request for modification to the utility. The notice should provide the address of the tree warden or DOT to which you must mail the objection or request for modification. If you are going to be away on vacation, have someone alert you to a notice from your utility and also check your house for a “door hanger” notice.  It is possible that notice will not be mailed.
• If the tree warden decides in favor of the utility with regard to your objection or modification, you have a right to appeal to PURA within 10 business days of the decision, which includes the option of having a mediation within thirty days.  If the mediation fails to reach a resolution, you may then have a hearing before PURA within another thirty days, or you can skip mediation and go directly to a hearing before PURA within sixty days. The utility also can appeal a decision in your favor. The burden is on the utility to prove that its proposed pruning and/or removal is necessary for utility reliability.  
• State law prohibits the utility from billing a person who refused to give consent for removal of a tree on private land or objected to pruning or removal of a tree within the public right-of-way if the tree falls and the utility infrastructure is damaged.

Let your friends and neighbors know about their rights.

Insist that any agreement on a modification to the planned work be in writing in sufficient detail and preferably with an illustration of the agreed upon work.  Take photos before the work begins!

You may request information about whether the tree or shrub is in the public right-of-way or on your private land.  If it is on your private land, the utility may not remove or prune the tree or shrub without your affirmative consent, with one exception for hazardous trees.

The notice should tell you that you have a right to consult with the tree warden (municipal roads) or the Department of Transportation (DOT) representative (state highways).  The tree warden will know who the DOT representative is.  The address of the tree warden must be on the notice. If you don’t know who your tree warden is, you can call your town or city hall to find out, or go here (not sure how up-to-date this information is): DEEP Interactive Map with Contact Information for Your Town or City’s Tree Warden

Do not allow the utility to prune or remove a tree or shrub if the utility does not have a permit to do so from the tree warden (municipal roads) or DOT (state highways).  The utility may contact you before or after obtaining a permit.  You should ask to see the permit.  If it does not specify the work to be done, contact the tree warden or DOT representative. 

Take photos and file a complaint to PURA if a utility has pruned or removed a tree or shrub:

• without a tree warden or DOT permit (required except where a tree is in direct contact with a wire or causing a fire);
• without notice that provides the required information;
• despite an objection or request for modification, before a requested consultation has taken place, or when an appeal from a tree warden or DOT decision is pending;
• without consent, for a tree on private land (including municipal land) outside the public right-of-way; or
• contrary to its agreement with you

​IF any of the above happens  . . .
File a complaint with PURA, and seek appropriate remedies. BUT — Remember that professional pruning that preserves the health and structure of a tree or shrub is permitted if necessary for utility reliability, and that hazardous trees and branches can be removed with only a tree warden or DOT permit. In the case of direct tree-wire contact and burning, the utility or DOT does not need a permit but should conduct the minimum pruning necessary. 

Summary of CT Law on Utility Vegetation Management, revised March 2021

Flow Chart of Legal Requirements for Utility Vegetation Management
NOTE:  Although this chart was prepared in 2014, it remains a useful guide to the legal process.

• Eversource Line Maintenance Plan for 2021 (in plan and in Appendix 3) and Vegetation Management Metrics for 2020
• United Illuminating Line Maintenance Plan for 2021 (in plan and Attachment 2) and Vegetation Management Metrics for 2020

• In the past, United Illuminating’s Line Clearance Standards, as revised in 2008, and used until its 11/01/13 Vegetation Management Plan adopted Enhanced Tree Trimming (ETT), called for use of directional pruning and for individual evaluation of each tree and consideration of its “growth rate, species, shape, condition and location of the tree.”  Eversource has long used ETT.
• Directional Pruning for Line Clearance in Pennsylvania describes directional pruning and provides diagrams of proper pruning using this method.
• Branch reduction, an alternative to ETT, does not require removal of healthy tall trees.  See “Assessing the Potential of Reduction Pruning in Mitigating the Risk of Branch Failure,” by Biocompliance Consulting, October, 2012.  Also, see Testimony of Goodfellow and Townsley to PURA, April, 2012, questioning ETT and discussing branch reduction. 
• Video of pruning for better management of street trees by Dr. Ed Gilman of the University of Florida (1 hr. 19 minutes). This is a thorough discussion of pruning approaches, including branch reduction, with a primary goal of achieving stronger trees.
• The Arbor Day Foundation’s TreeLine USA, promotes both dependable utility service and a healthy urban forest along the roadside.  There are numerous TreeLine USA utilities throughout the United States that meet the requirements of the TreeLine USA program.  Neither Eversource nor United Illuminating are on the list.

Opportunities for the Public to Support Undergrounding

GCNH Efforts to Support Undergrounding

• Comments on straw proposal, submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08 on June 5, 2022, in response to request for comments from PURA.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 2021-05-15 on March 25, 2022, suggesting a metric to measure the resilience of the electric distribution system (its ability to withstand and recover from high impact events such as tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes), and its relationship to undergrounding.  Current industry metrics focus on day to day reliability in normal weather, and exclude major weather events.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08 on April 18, 2022, making comments pertaining to the presentations made by the electric distribution systems companies at the March 28/29, 2022 Technical Meetings.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-08 on March 3, 2022, commenting on responses by Participants to PURA to questions regarding their reliability and resiliency planning.  A copy was also submitted to DEEP on March 3 for consideration in preparing its 2022 Comprehensive Energy Strategy.   NOTE:  A correction in the correspondence was communicated to PURA and DEEP,  and has been made in the document on the website.
• See January 26, 2022  GCNH letter to Governor Lamont with copies to DEEP, the General Assembly Energy & Technology and Environment Committees and PURA, and attached GCNH Memorandum in Support of a Statewide Strategy for Undergrounding of Electric and Communication Wires and Cables, entered in PURA for Docket No. 17-12-03RE08, PURA’s investigation focused on electric distribution companies’ planning for distribution resilience and reliability, their standards and programs.

• The Policy on Resilient Forests for Connecticut’s Future (PRFCT Future) Final Report, (12.14.21, accepted by DEEP on 1.11.22), at p.11, supported “Incremental Undergrounding of Electric Infrastructure and Improved Coordination of Underground Utilities” stating: Although the Working Group acknowledges various challenges with coordinating this effort across various entities that run utilities underground, one benefit of doing this would be to remove conflicts with planting and maintaining tall stature trees as well as enhancing urban tree cover in areas where more sustainable development would be encouraged. Investments in incremental undergrounding might be credited against required compensatory mitigation due to unavoidable tree losses under certain conditions.
• “Burying the Lines Why How — Benefits and Excuses,” by Elizabeth Hopely, December 2020  This statement summarizes numerous benefits of undergrounding electric and communication distribution wires, and addresses excuses given for not undergrounding.
• “Undergrounding Utilities — The Broad Context (Connecticut),” by Henry Dynia,  February 13, 2021  This statement includes consideration of socio-economic and political factors concerning undergrounding.

• The Case for Underground Distribution, a comparison between Overhead and Underground wire solutions by Mike Beehler, 2019.
• T&D World, “21st Century Costs of Underground Distribution,” February 19, 2021, by Mike Beehler.  The article details all the ways in which underground cables have improved in design, construction, operations and maintenance.
• Article on Underground Distribution Goal of 50% by 2040 by Mike Beehler, December, 2022.
• PowerGrid International, August 4, 2021, “Is it time for you to consider undergrounding some of your distribution lines?”: Article by Jennifer Runyon reports on strategic undergrounding of some existing distribution lines by Virginia’s Dominion Energy and Wisconsin’s WEC Energy Group in order to increase reliability and reduce restoration times. Lower costs of undergrounding, new technologies and increased vegetation management costs were important to the decisions.
• CT Mirror, August 27, 2020, “CT keeps losing power when storms strike.  But that doesn’t have to happen”:  This article by Jan Ellen Spiegel provides an overview of CT’s problems with power reliability and possible solutions,   including undergrounding.
• New Haven Independent, February 7, 2014, “Clear Trees? Or Bury Power Lines”
• Wall Street Journal, April 14, 2013, “Should Utilities Be Required to Bury Power Lines to Protect Them?“
• Popular Mechanics, October 31, 2012, “Should the Northeast Bury its Power Lines to Prevent Outages?”

The Governors Council on Climate Change (GC3), Administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) was established by Governor Malloy in 2015 to address mitigation strategies to reduce greenhouse gases. Governor Malloy reestablished and expanded the membership and added consideration of adaptation and resilience in the face of climate change impacts to its responsibilities.

The Phase I Report on Near Term Actions was published in January 2021 based on numerous reports of working groups.  Recommendation 26 in the report is to explore options for a statewide “no-net-loss of forest” policy, and includes consideration of protecting urban forests, building more parks and planting more trees.

This recommendation was based on the 2020 Forests Sub-Group Final Report to the GC3, which included the following at page 32:

“Short Term (1-5 year) Actions

• Do not permit removals of healthy street trees, and limit removals to trees in hazardous poor condition that are imminent threats to people or electric infrastructure. If trees are removed, PURA should require a plan and support funding for utilities to replant trees, especially in EJ communities with higher percentages of impervious surfaces and related heat island impacts.
• Pruning should focus on protecting the structural integrity, strength, and health of the trees, and not risk creating hazardous trees in the future by adherence to rigid clearance standards.
• Appropriate roadside trees, including those that will become large, should be planted with priority to residential areas and especially in EJ communities with higher percentages of impervious surfaces and related heat island impacts.
• Establish priorities for planned and opportunistic conversion from overhead pole and wire electric distribution to underground wires and upgraded circuits for electric reliability and reduced tree-wire conflicts.
• Create model municipal ordinances to encourage replacement of and mitigation offsets for non-emergency removals of street trees within the municipal road right-of-way.
• Establish new standards for state roads that minimize losses of healthy trees.”

In order to further its positions on trees and power, the Garden Club of New Haven has participated in relevant GC3 working groups by attending meetings and submitting written comments on draft reports.

• Docket No. 17-12-03RE08, INVESTIGATION INTO DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM PLANNING OF THE ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES – RESILIENCE AND RELIABILITY STANDARDS AND PROGRAMS 
• As mandated in the Final Decision for docket #17-12-08RE08 on 8/31/22, there was a follow-up Report on Undergrounding published by PURA’s Office of Education, Outreach & Enforcement accompanied by a Motion to adopt the Report on December 2, 2022. PURA is accepting responses and here are examples of two excellent ones:
  • Response to Motion 43 on undergrounding strategy priorities submitted to Docket #17-12-03RE08 on December 6, 2022 by Mikey Hirschoff on behalf of the Garden Club of New Haven.
    • Hirschoff also filed a Supplemental Response to Motion 43 that includes links to a report and article, both by Mike Beehler:
      • The Case for Underground Distribution, a comparison between Overhead and Underground wire solutions, 2019; and
      • Article on Underground Distribution Goal of 50% by 2040 printed December, 2022.
  • Response to Motion 43 on adopting undergrounding strategy with sensitivity to rate hikes submitted on December 8, 2022 by Juliet Cain.
• Comments on straw proposal, submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08 on June 5, 2022, in response to request for comments from PURA.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08 on April 18, 2022, making comments pertaining to the presentations made by the electric distribution systems companies at the March 28/29, 2022 Technical Meetings.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 2021-05-15 on March 25, 2022, suggesting a metric to measure the resilience of the electric distribution system (its ability to withstand and recover from high impact events such as tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes), and its relationship to undergrounding.  Current industry metrics focus on day to day reliability in normal weather, and exclude major weather events.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-08 on March 3, 2022, commenting on responses by Participants to PURA to questions regarding their reliability and resiliency planning.  A copy was also submitted to DEEP on March 3 for consideration in preparing its 2022 Comprehensive Energy Strategy.   NOTE:  A correction in the correspondence was communicated to PURA and DEEP,  and has been made in the document on the website.
• GCNH letter to Governor Lamont (1/26/22) with attached GCNH Memorandum in Support of a Statewide Strategy for Undergrounding of Electric and Communication Wires and Cables, entered in PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08.
• Correspondence submitted to PURA Docket No. 17-12-03RE08 re: Eversource “resiliency projects” and EDC Line Maintenance Plans for 2022.  Eversource did not include its “resiliency projects” in its line management plan for 2022 and PURA has therefore not reviewed it.  The projects call for removal of all trees, whether hazardous or non-hazardous that are within the “fall-zone” for their pole and wire overhead distribution system.  For numerous reasons, set forth in this correspondence, GCNH urges PURA to halt the projects until a thorough review can be conducted under the final framework adopted in Docket No. 17-12-03RE08.​
• Docket No. 20-05-15, ​PURA INVESTIGATION INTO A PERFORMANCE-BASED REGULATION FRAMEWORK FOR THE ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES (Click Docket No. to see all filings and timeline schedule.)
• Correspondence submitted to PURA DOCKET NO. 20-05-15 on March 25, 2022, suggesting a metric to measure the resilience of the electric distribution system (its ability to withstand and recover from high impact events such as tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes), and its relationship to undergrounding.  Current industry metrics focus on day to day reliability in normal weather, and exclude major weather events.

PURA Final Decision, Docket 14-07-18