The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corp. recommend that utilities look outside their rights of way to target trees that could impact their lines during a storm like the snowstorm that knocked out power to millions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions last October.
In a report they did because the storm affected federally regulated transmissions lines as well as distributions systems, the agencies recommend:
- where appropriate, taking targeted steps to address off-right-of-way danger trees
- employing best practices in managing vegetation on full rights-of-way
- laying the foundation for effective vegetation management when establishing new rights-of-way
- enhancing storm preparedness and response plans as needed.
- The agencies staff also suggested requiring that companies increase "reporting of vegetation-caused outages" and improve "the content of required disturbance reports."
