ComEd employees like trees, too

ComEd is committed to providing safe, reliable and affordable electricity. We believe providing this critical service - something often only noticed when unavailable - can go hand-in-hand with our natural environment.

ComEd is required by state and federal government regulations to maintain clearances around and beneath our electric lines to minimize the possibility of a major power outage, such as the 2003 East Coast blackout that affected 45 million people in eight states.

Tree contact is a leading cause of power outages on the ComEd system. Tree contact on distribution lines, those that serve neighborhoods with power, can cause outages that affect thousands of people. And a single tree-related incident involving a high-voltage transmission line could knock out power to millions of Chicagoland homes and businesses. ComEd's vegetation management program is designed to avoid such occurrences, thereby protecting the delivery of electricity to customers.

Recently, ComEd presented a plan to private citizens and representatives from the DuPage County Trail Maintenance Task Force and Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. This plan balances the interests of all parties and property owners, including ComEd, while highlighting the restoration of native prairie plants along portions of the trail system.

Throughout ComEd's 11,400 square-mile service territory, our professional crews follow industry-best practices as well as Environmental Protection Agency and Illinois Department of Agriculture directives when conducting vegetation management activity. In many cases, ComEd's practices and procedures, including targeted, low-volume use of approved herbicides, are consistent with those of the communities we are privileged to serve.

Like our customers, ComEd employees appreciate the value of wooded communities and the aesthetics and pleasure that plant life provides. But we also take very seriously our obligation to provide reliable electricity, which is essential to economic development, modern society and the quality of life for our 3.8 million customers.

Craig Chesley

ComEd vegetation management manager