Puget Sound Energy to remove hazardous trees in Olympia
BELLEVUE, Wash. (April 28, 2009) – Puget Sound Energy in late April will begin removing 38 hazardous cedar trees from the PSE Johnson Hill substation located at Pacific Avenue and Lilly Road.
The trees pose a safety and reliability hazard due to their close proximity to the substation. In addition, several of the cedars have become diseased, and PSE arborists expect the remainder of the trees, if not removed, would be infected in one to three years. The site has also been inspected by Olympia’s urban forester who has issued a permit for the tree removal.
“Removing hazardous trees near electric lines and substations is critical to public safety and electric system reliability,” said Beth Rogers, manager of vegetation management at PSE. “Replacing the diseased cedars with healthy trees and shrubs will protect against potential outages in the future.”
Once the cedars are removed, PSE will plant a new mix of healthy trees and shrubs compatible with growth near electric lines and equipment. Crews will work Mondays through Fridays between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The entire project is expected to take four to six weeks.
PSE’s Johnson Hill substation is one of 10 that are part of a larger two-year multi-million upgrade project to increase reliability and meet the growing customer demand for power in the Olympia area. The project will upgrade PSE’s existing low-voltage 55 kilovolt (kV) substations and transmission lines to the utility’s current standard of 115 kV.
Evergreen State College will use the wood from the downed trees for woodworking projects.
Contacts
Catherine Lenox, Puget Sound Energy, 1-888-831-7250
Cathie Butler, City of Olympia, 360-753-8361
About Puget Sound Energy
Washington state’s oldest and largest energy utility, with a 6,000-square-mile service area stretching across 11 counties, Puget Sound Energy serves more than 1 million electric customers and nearly 750,000 natural gas customers. PSE, a subsidiary of Puget Energy, meets the energy needs of its growing customer base primarily in Western Washington through incremental, cost-effective energy conservation, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service to deliver energy that is safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and environmentally responsible.