Progress Energy plans to cut 50,000 trees in NC, SC
RALEIGH (AP) — Progress Energy plans to cut about 50,000 trees in the path of transmission lines in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Company officials said it’s the only way to comply with a new federal mandate that sets fines of up to $1 million a day if power outages are caused by trees or other vegetation. The project costs about $30 million.
Utilities aren’t required to cut down trees, only to have a plan for maintaining vegetation along transmission line corridors.
So far, trees have been cut in several cities including Raleigh, Wilmington and Sanford. The work is 5 percent complete.
Many residents aren’t happy and are trying to curb the cutting. In Durham, city officials were able to persuade Duke Energy to prune rather than cut down more than 250 trees in several downtown neighborhoods.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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