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Michigan bill would codify 15-foot vegetation clearance for power lines, sponsors say
Summary
Representative Phil Green and Thumb Electric Cooperative urged the House Energy Committee to allow utilities to maintain vegetation up to 15 feet from lines to improve safety, reliability and cost efficiency; no committee vote was taken.
Representative Phil Green told the House Energy Committee that House Bill 4,361 would change the statute that established the Public Service Commission to allow utilities to maintain vegetation “from the ground to the sky … up to 15 feet from the outermost portion of the wire that conducts electricity.”
The bill’s sponsor said the measure targets tree-related outages after repeated storm damage in his district, and would clarify how far utilities may trim to reduce branches and trees falling on lines. “Growing up in the thumb, living in the thumb representing the thumb, we had a lot of issues with … reliability,” Green said, citing ice storms and insect-driven tree die-off.
Kevin Mazur, legal and compliance engineer for Thumb Electric Cooperative, told the committee the…
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