Wildlife rescuers say company shows no regard for environment
By Michael S. Hoey
Correspondent
American Transmission Co. is planning to cut down most of the trees on an easement it owns in Walworth County this summer including a path through the Fellow Mortals Animal Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital at W4632 Palmer Road in the Town of Geneva.
Clear cutting the easement on that property is set to begin June 20.
Fellow Mortals co-founder Yvonne Blane said the company plans to take down all the trees on the easement it owns including a 100-year-old spruce tree that provides much protection for the hospital. Blane said the site for the facility was chosen in 1985 because it is secluded and has ample vegetation to provide a buffer between Palmer Road and the hospital so the animals could recover from their injuries undisturbed. She said she and her husband have invested much time and money adding flight cages and other amenities for the animals they never would have added if they had known they were going to lose this many trees along Palmer Road.
“I don’t know if we can go forward if they do this,” Blane said. “Everything we have done here has been to create a special sanctuary for the animals, and after 31 years this company comes in says it’s not special.”
“We fully appreciate the care and services the Fellow Mortals rehabilitation hospital provides,” Alissa Braatz, corporate communications representative for ATC, said.
“We remain optimistic we can work toward an option that would include compatible vegetation and fencing to help create the privacy and noise buffering that they desire at their site,” Braatz said. “We believe this would accomplish a positive balance between ATC’s responsibility for ensuring safe and reliable electric service and the Fellow Mortals’ compassion and commitment for healing wildlife.”
Braatz said the decision to remove trees along its easements is to ensure public and worker safety. She said pruning trees, as has been done in the past, is a less efficient approach than cutting the tall-growing vegetation on a cyclical basis. Braatz said disruption of the power service is also an issue.
“Some of the most disruptive and sustained power outages around the country have occurred due to trees coming in contact with power lines,” she said.
She said that has resulted in industry-wide changes toward removing trees instead of just pruning them. She said ATC is not the only company moving toward this policy.
Blane said ATC has offered to replace the trees with vegetation that will not grow as tall and a fence, but she is not interested. She said a fence does not provide a place for birds to nest and replacing full-grown trees with low vegetation and fencing is not an adequate solution. Blane said she simply wants ATC to return to its pruning policy on her property, and she has even offered to trim the trees herself at her own expense.
“I don’t want to cause issues but they are adamantly demanding to have their way when it is not necessary,” Blane said.
Blane said trees have been pruned when they get too close to the power lines for decades and there have been no issues with safety or power outages in the area. The easement has existed since 1970. Blane said she was not aware of it or that a provision of it allows clear-cutting when she purchased the land. Even with the clear-cutting provision, no one has ever done it until now.
Braatz said ATC took over control of the easement in 2001 and has been transitioning over the past several years to the preventive maintenance program of removing trees in the easements. She said ATC interacts with thousands of landowners each year and some question the need to remove trees.
“Industry practices for right-of-way management, including those of ATC, have evolved to align with easement rights as a result of several widespread power outages including one in the northeast several years ago, which affected 50 million people in eight states and portions of Canada,” Braatz said.
Braatz also said it is not always possible to foresee exactly how high trees will grow over several years, how far power lines might sag, or how much lines might sway in the wind, therefore the policy has become clearing all vegetation that is considered “incompatible” so the company can maintain adequate clearances to ensure public safety and keep the lights on.
Blane said she does not believe there is a safety concern based on the fact there have not been any problems since the power lines were installed. She said nothing has changed with the power lines, there have been no issues, and ATC is acting like it has no choice when in reality it is a company decision to remove the trees. She said she believes the decision is more about saving money because with the trees removed the company would no longer have to pay to have crews inspect and prune trees on a yearly basis.
“This is a decision by a private for-profit company that will benefit them and be devastating to property owners,” she said. “They have no oversight.”
Blane said ATC portrays itself as being environmentally sensitive but plans to remove trees on her property during nesting season. She said many people believe ATC is a government entity but it is really a private business with too much control over private property rights.
“I am trying to shine a light on a company operating in the dark,” Blane said. “We can’t allow a private company to do this to the citizens.”
Blane said if she had money invested in a company that treats people this way she would divest it.
Braatz said that while ATC is a private company it is considered a “public” utility because it is certified and regulated by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin and, in some ways, by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Braatz also said the key drivers for ATC’s vegetation management program are ensuring public and worker safety.
Robert Kennedy, attorney for Fellow Mortals, said in a press release that ATC’s policy is rigid and needlessly destroys beautiful forest growth. He said the policy is bad for Fellow Mortals and other homeowners who could also lose trees on their properties.
“ATC seems unwilling to give any consideration to the homeowners much less Fellow Mortals,” Kennedy said. “If they do not reconsider, then a humane Walworth County gem may be disastrously marred and Wisconsin and the county will be the worst for it.”
In an interview, Kennedy said ATC has not received any permits for the work, which he believes violates a Town of Geneva ordinance that regulates removal of trees.
Ordinance No. 58 says “all tree cutting exceeding the limitations of Section C requires a permit from the Town of Geneva Planning Commission.” Braatz said ATC is exempt from the ordinance because it is a public utility.
Under “exceptions”, Ordinance No. 58 says “public or private utilities are required to inform the Town of Geneva Building Inspector previous to initiating any trimming or tree removal in the Town of Geneva.”
Braatz said ATC interprets that to mean the company is not required to get a permit, only to inform the town. She also said ATC has been discussing its plans with the town and officials have been notified. No one from the Town of Geneva responded to a request for comment by press time.
Blane said she just wants ATC to return to a pruning policy on her property. Braatz said that is not consistent with ATC policy, and the company is willing to work with the Blanes on other options. If no compromise can be reached, the removal of trees on the Fellow Mortals property will begin on or about June 20.
