OPALCO Crews Will be Trimming Utility Rights of Way

— from Suzanne Olson —

OPALCO maintains the clearance between trees and shrubs and our power lines on a regular schedule. It’s that time of year again. Professional tree trimming crews will be making their rounds beginning the week of May 18th. Please look for the crews along our roads on each island:

Week of May 18th: San Juan Island – Cattle Point and Pear Point areas
Week of May 28th: Orcas Island – from the Orcas Substation to the Eastsound substation, Montgomery Lane and Crow Valley areas
Week of June 3rd: Shaw Island – All overhead lines
Week of June 8th: Lopez Island – Schoolhouse Road and Airport areas

Their scope of work is limited to the established Right-of-Way boundaries to protect the trees from our power lines and protect our system from interruptions of power that can occur when tree limbs come into contact with our lines. If hazardous trees are identified, the land owner will be notified and a local certified arborist will be contracted to remove them with land owner permission.

Learn more about OPALCO’s Right-of-Way program at: www.opalco.com/power-information/vegetation-tree-trimming/

Clearance is important throughout the system. Members can 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 10’ away from the front side of electrical devices and at least 3’ away from the other sides. OPALCO crews must be able to safely access field devices (those green boxes in particular) at all times.

For the latest information about OPALCO, go to: www.opalco.com; sign up for our email newsletter (https://www.opalco.com/about/email-signup/); and follow us on Facebook (Orcas Power & Light Cooperative) and Twitter (@orcaspower). OPALCO is our member-owned cooperative, powering more than 11,000 members on 20 islands in San Juan County since 1937.