The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service issued a final rule governing the handling of trees and other vegetation on 18,000 miles of powerline corridors that cross the nation's national forests and grasslands.
The final rule is aimed at providing consistent procedures for managing vegetation and removing dead and dying trees that pose a fire risk to powerline structures, according to a Forest Service press release announcing the rule.
The Forest Service issues special use authorizations for powerline facilities that require utilities, in consultation with the federal agency, to prepare and obtain approval of operating plans for powerline facility maintenance and vegetation management within agency-managed lands, according to a July 10 Federal Register notice of the rule.
Powerline owners and operators are subject to mandatory standards established by the North American Electric Reliability Corp. and may use those standards as part of their operating plans, according to the notice. NERC requires electric utilities to engage in vegetation management to avoid encroachment of vegetation into minimum clearance distances from powerline facilities.
However, the new rule provides that emergency vegetation management does not require prior written approval from the Forest Service. Instead, powerline owners or operators must notify authorized officers in writing of the location and quantity of the emergency vegetation management within 24 hours after completing the action, the notice stated.
Emergency action is defined as unplanned pruning or removal of hazard trees on or abutting National Forest System lands that have contacted or present an imminent danger of contacting the powerline facility and must be removed to avoid the disruption of electric service or to eliminate an immediate fire or safety hazard, according to the notice.
"Developing consistent, efficient and effective procedures to manage vegetation in utility corridors will enhance the safety of communities, as well as protect property and infrastructure from the threat of wildfire," Forest Service Chief Vicki Christiansen said in the press release. "In our role as an integral link in the power grid, this will help us increase the overall reliability of the grid, which will provide better continuity to public services."
The rule also authorizes Forest Service officers to minimize the need for case-by-case approvals for routine vegetation management, including hazardous tree removals, powerline facility inspections, and operation and maintenance of powerline facilities.
The press release said the final rule updating the agency's special-use regulations for powerline owners and operators is in alignment with Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue's June 12 memorandum aimed at increasing the productivity of national forests and grasslands. That memorandum drew protests from conservationists who expressed concern that the Trump administration was making exploitation of the nation's forests and grasslands easier for energy companies, miners, ranchers and loggers.
Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., who as Republican leader on the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee repeatedly has called for the thinning of what he calls "overstocked" federal forests, praised the new rule.
"Unwieldy government regulations are standing in the way of common-sense risk reduction strategies, including hazard tree removal and improvements to the aging power grid," Walden said in a press release. "This new rule takes steps to tear down these burdensome regulations and builds on a fix to forest management I helped secure in a 2018 forest management package."