Clearing right-of-way areas near power lines a priority for OPALCO this month

OPALCO shares news about a project that aims to increase pow­er line safe­ty and reli­a­bil­i­ty through­out the San Juan Islands.

OPALCO is clear­ing the right-of-way areas under pow­er lines this month to pro­tect the island’s elec­tri­cal sys­tem. This clear­ing pre­vents pow­er out­ages caused by over­hang­ing trees and branch­es, removes for­est fuels that could feed a wild­fire, and improves safe­ty and access for line crews dur­ing pow­er out­ages. OPALCO is work­ing with pro­fes­sion­al tree trim­ming crews on Orcas, Shaw, Lopez and San Juan Island dur­ing the month of Decem­ber to remove trees and oth­er veg­e­ta­tion under or near our pow­er lines.

The removal of poten­tial­ly haz­ardous trees around over­head trans­mis­sion lines reduces out­age times and helps all mem­bers of the coop­er­a­tive to have a more reli­able sys­tem and safer envi­ron­ment. If you see a poten­tial­ly haz­ardous tree, call OPALCO at 360–376-3500 so that we can advise and assist in the tree’s removal. Please do not attempt to cut a dead or dying tree that is lean­ing towards pow­er lines.

Mem­bers can also help by leav­ing room for the OPALCO crew to work safe­ly on the devices in the field and on mem­bers’ prop­er­ty. Please keep land­scap­ing, shrubs, and struc­tures at least ten feet away from the front side of elec­tri­cal devices and at least three feet away from the oth­er sides. OPALCO crews must be able to safe­ly access field devices such as trans­form­ers — those green box­es — day or night.

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