JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — State utility regulators are trimming back a plan to mandate more extensive tree trimming by Missouri’s public utilities, fearing consumers could have been hit with a costly rate increase.
The Missouri Public Service Commission is expected to approve the new tree-trimming rule next week. While still imposing the first industrywide requirements for tree pruning, the rule still would allow trees to grow closer to power lines than regulators had initially proposed.
Utility regulators are considering tree-trimming regulations after summer storms with high winds and winter storms with heavy ice downed thousands of tree limbs on power lines around Missouri in 2006 and early 2007.
The state’s four investor-owned utilities estimated that a proposed vegetation management rule published this July could have cost up to $364 million to comply with in the first year and an additional $288 million annually thereafter.
Joplin-based Empire District Electric Co. claimed it would have cost $45 million annually for it to comply with the initial proposal — an amount greater than the company’s $41 million in net income during the past state fiscal year.
Utilities could have sought to pass on those costs to consumers the next time they asked the PSC for a rate increase.
Consequently, utility regulators are revising their proposal with the aim of making it less stringent and thus less costly. A draft of the revised rule, provided Tuesday to The Associated Press, drew a mixed reaction from commissioners.
Among other things, it would strip a section that would have prohibited trees taller than 15 feet within the right of way of the largest transmission lines, instead letting utilities continue to abide by whatever guidelines the federal government sets.
As originally proposed, the PSC also would have required vegetation to be periodically trimmed within 25 feet of power lines with more than 50,000 volts and within 10 feet of power lines with between 600 volts and 50,000 volts, creating the possibility that utilities would have been required to cut trees behind their legal rights of way.
As revised, the proposed rule would lower the clearance for those larger power lines to 15 feet and leave the smaller lines’ clearance at 10 feet — with the caveat in both cases that utilities would not have to trim beyond the right of way, even if that is a smaller distance than the new requirements.
Local News
<img src=" http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/business.gif " Border=0> 9:18a.m. Utility regulators scale back on tree trimming regulation, citing impact on utilities, customers
- Local News
-
-
City wants to buy weather radios for those without
Phil Jones had been working on a construction project outside his house all day on May 22 and was unaware that a tornado watch had been issued. Once he was inside, though, his weather radio went off, and he learned that a warning had been issued.
-
Cold air headed this way
The Arctic front that passed over Missouri this morning will bring dangerously cold temperatures to the region tonight and Saturday.
-
Miami, Okla., man dies along I-44
A 27-year-old Miami, Okla., who appeared to be walking along I-44 in an attempt to get help after wrecking his car, is dead after being hit by a pickup truck.
-
Mo. presidential primary sets low mark in turnout
Just 8 percent of Missouri’s registered voters cast ballots in this week’s presidential primary.
-
Okla. court upholds man’s life sentence in deaths
An Oklahoma appeals court has upheld the life in prison sentences of a man convicted of two counts of first-degree murder for the shotgun slayings of two men at a Sperry residence.
-
Architects present preliminary JHS plans at community meeting
Reaction appeared mostly supportive Thursday night among the roughly 50 people who attended a community meeting at which architects presented their preliminary site plans for the future combined Joplin High School and Franklin Technology Center.
-
Confessed shooter testifies against co-defendants in Pittsburg murder case
Rickey Smith testified Thursday that as he came in the back door of Ryan Bailey’s home in Pittsburg with a 9 mm pistol in his hand, Bailey looked up from the couch in his living room.
-
School district’s proposed street-closing plan questioned
Plans to close some streets near the proposed Joplin High School drew questions, including a challenge from a former Joplin mayor, during a public hearing this week.
-
Mike Pound: Spirit of competition evident during double-overtime game
When I played basketball in high school, I played in several very close games.
Now, some people who may have known me in high school are probably laughing right now and saying, “What Mike meant to say is that when he was in high school, he came very close to playing in some games.” -
Neosho council approves new golf cart contract
The purchase of golf carts was back on the agenda this week for the Neosho City Council. City Attorney Steve Hays said there were errors in the financing terms that were part of a bid approved last month for the purchase of 55 gas-powered carts from E-Z-Go for $144,195, so the purchase of a new fleet was rebid.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
