Chicago Tribune Editorial: ComEd massacre

Chicago Tribune Editorial: ComEd massacre
Copyright © 2009, Chicago Tribune
August 31, 2009
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-0831edit2aug31,0,2449246.story


Chicagoans know what happens when Commonwealth Edison crews descend on an area to trim trees and other vegetation they deem a hazard to power lines. All too often, the result is a bunch of deformed trees that look like some Edward Scissorhands disciple on acid had buzzed his way through the yard.But that's a mild description for the latest ComEd blitzkrieg in the leafy northern suburbs of Glencoe, Glenview, Northfield, Northbrook, Skokie and Wilmette.

Earlier this summer, Edison tromped out to kill vegetation and trees deemed a safety hazard beneath its towering transmission lines.

Did ComEd notify local officials and residents, as common sense would dictate? Nah.

Did ComEd carefully prune trees and trim back the lush vegetation that makes the corridor a sanctuary for wildlife? Hardly.

ComEd crews dumped gallons of an herbicide called Garlon 3A on low-lying brush over a nearly 6-mile stretch of land the utility owns through those communities. You can't miss this path of destruction: It's 130 feet wide. That's a huge eyesore of brittle, dead brush and other vegetation. It's also a fire hazard, some local fire chiefs worry.

The kicker: It could have been much worse. ComEd sent a crew to finish the job in Northfield -- what the village president calls the "epicenter" of the destruction because of ComEd's plans to wipe out evergreens, ash, linden, and spruce that serve as part of Northfield's downtown landscaping.

But those trees were too big to be killed with chemicals. So the ComEd crews stopped by Northfield's public works facility to notify the village's forester that they were preparing to start the tree cutting.

That's when Stacy Alberts Sigman, the village manager, stepped outside to see what was going on. "I was just stunned," she said. "When you looked down the corridor, as far as your eye could see, it was just dead."

She demanded that the work be stopped. And ComEd agreed to a temporary halt.

Now ComEd is scrambling to do what it should have done in the first place: Explain to officials and residents why this massive destruction is the best possible solution.

They've got a lot of explaining to do.

ComEd needs to clear foliage that can interfere with the lines, cause a safety hazard or block access for repair workers, as its spokesman pointed out.

But that demands a careful, limited and environmentally sensitive program.

As Sigman says: "They don't need an Uzi."

No, they don't. It's a blight on these communities -- and on ComEd's reputation.