Uniondale, NY - April 6, 2017 - PSEG Long Island announced today it received the National Arbor Day Foundation Tree Line USA Award for 2016. This award recognizes public and private utilities across the nation utilizing tree-friendly practices that protect and enhance America’s urban forests, while providing an increased reliability of service.
“Trees are a critical part of Long Island’s beauty. Proper maintenance of the right of way and encouraging healthy growth of trees helps to eliminate power outages caused by tree interference during storms,”said John O’Connell, PSEG Long Island vice president of transmission and distribution operations. “PSEG Long Island’s vegetation management program enables us to provide our customers with safe, reliable service, while keeping their trees alive, healthy and out of harm’s way. We are proud to have our efforts recognized by the Arbor Day Foundation again this year.”
In 2016, PSEG Long Island completed over 2,900 miles of distribution and transmission line clearance in accordance with the industry best practice clearance standard. The environmentally-sound techniques utilized by PSEG Long Island are in accordance with the International Society of Arboriculture’s published best practices and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) A-300 Standards for Tree Care Operations. This preserves the health of the tree and directs future growth away from power lines.
As a direct result of its move to the industry best practice clearance standard, PSEG Long Island reduced the number of vegetation-related outages by more than 50 percent on circuits that were trimmed since 2014.
The PSEG Long Island vegetation management program adheres to a four-year tree trimming cycle and its arborists and tree-trimming contractors trim tree branches away from electric lines to ensure a safe, reliable and consistent power supply. This effort dramatically limits damage from severe storms, lowers future line clearance costs and reduces peak energy demand. It also provides a zone of safety in which line workers can do their jobs, especially during storm events when restoration work is done under hazardous conditions.
The Tree Line USA program is made possible through the Arbor Day Foundation, in cooperation with the National Associate of State Foresters. The National Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit conservation and education organization dedicated to tree planting and environmental stewardship. To learn more about the National Arbor Day foundation, please visit www.arborday.org.
For more information on PSEG Long Island’s tree trimming program, visit our website at https://www.psegliny.com/page.cfm/Home/Safety/TreeTrimming.
PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a 12-year contract. PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company with annual revenues of $9.1 billion.