FEC Explains Right-of-Way Program
To the Editor:
In response to the letter submitted by David Noak concerning Fayette Electric Cooperative’s “tree trimming policy”, I would like to first of all express my thanks for his praise for the co-op and contractor crews who worked around the clock to restore power to members affected by the Valentine’s week ice storm.
In response to your comment concerning outages caused by tree limbs falling on and bringing down power lines, Fayette EC’s board of directors and management realizes that right-of-way clearing is critical to ensuring that the cooperative’s members are provided with reliable, costeffective service. The right-ofway trimming program is just one of the maintenance programs we have in place to make sure the over 2,940 miles of line continue providing the service members have expected since 1937. We also treat and inspect all of our 58,327 poles. Due to this, we were fortunate to have only one pole go down during the storm.
Last year, FEC contracted with 14 right-of-way crews. These crews used bucket trucks, chain saws, chippers and a skid steer with a mulching wheel to trim right-of-way throughout the cooperative’s service area. Over $3.5 million was spent on vegetation management in 2020.
When crews clear a rightof-way, the minimum distance to cut back trees and brush is 20 feet – 10 feet on each side of a single-phase line. A 30-foot rightof-way, 15 feet on each side, is cleared under three-phase lines. Both procedures are standard for the industry.
Unfortunately, many of the outages in the most recent storm were caused by trees located outside of the co-op’s right-ofway. When ice, sleet and snow blow in, ice-laden tree limbs on tall trees located out of the right-of-way can and did lean over and come into contact with power lines resulting in power outages during this historic ice storm that affected the entire state of Texas.
In addition, ice accumulations on power lines makes them heavy. Just one-half an inch of ice can add as much as 500 pounds or more to a power line. This added weight can bring down a power line, and it did in several areas of the cooperative’s sevencounty service territory.
In some areas, the high winds in combination with ice that accumulated on the power lines caused a phenomenon known as galloping lines. As the icy winds blew, it caused some lines to move and sway. This, in turn, caused some of the disruptions in service since the extreme motion caused some lines to either break or make contact with each other, which they are not meant to do.
The length of the outages varied, depending on the damages to the power lines and equipment, and whether trees weakened by the weight of ice that fell onto power lines had to be removed.
The extensive outages, whether caused by ERCOT-mandated load shedding or downed lines – were truly unfortunate and challenging for Fayette EC and its members. We remain committed to a robust right-of-way clearing and other maintenance programs to assure the most reliable possible service to our members.
Gary Don Nietsche, General Manager
Fayette Electric Cooperative, Inc.