www.state.nj.us/bpu/pdf/rules/Veg Mgmt Amendments - Proposal - COURTESY COPY (5 - 8 - 09).pdf

Items in red are Sierra Club comments, not part of BPU document.

The new proposal includes many improvements, including:

1. Elimination of the requirement to cut trees which can mature over 15 ft in the border zone up to the edge of the right-of-way in section 14:5-9.6 (e).
   
2. Replacement of reference to the National Electrical Safety Code (NESC) (ANSI C2 2002) with Federal Guidelines, North American Electric Reli-ability Corporation (NERC) FAC-003, which uses IEEE Standard 516-2003, for determining the correct clearance. This clearance is 5 ft for 242 KV lines and 15 ft. for 500 KV lines.
3. Requirements for EDC (Electrical Distribution Companies) post schedules.
4. Requirement for EDC to post list of acceptable species for homeowners to plant.
5. In the wire zone (directly under the wires) the preferred growth shall be grasses or a low-growing, compatible, scrub-shrub plant community to obtain a meadow effect where possible.

I'd like to see them add something like the following to 14:5-9.6 (b):

"Property owners will be notified of any trees to be cut that are (at maturity) more than four times the minimum distance (5 ft for 230-242 KV lines, 10 ft for 345-362 KV and 15 ft for 500-550 KV lines) specified in the NERC FAC-003 requirements; i.e. 40 ft. for a 250 KV line. They will have the option of requesting a hearing on the need to exceed the minimum."

This is consistent with the EDC practices prior to 2007 and exceeds the federal rules by a large margin.

Below is a summary of selected sections of the above document

Proposed new N.J.A.C. 14:5-9.6(d) sets forth simplified requirements for vegetation management in the border zone, the area on either side of the wire zone. These re-quirements, which require a system of integrated vegetation management, replace the existing border zone requirements found at N.J.A.C. 14:5-9.6(e)2 and 4. The proposed new requirements are very similar to those used by New York State, and comport with best practices that are widely used in the utility industry. They provide the EDCs with more flexibility to tailor vegetation management at each site to meet the goals of safety, reliability, and utility line access.

NERC FAC-003-2 does not have a specific agriculture exemption, it states that "Where the line is less than 50 feet off the ground, managers could apply a full wire-border zone prescription."

Underlined text is new.

14:5-9.6 Transmission line vegetation management

(a) In addition to the other requirements of this subchapter, transmission lines, as defined at N.J.A.C. 14:5- 9.2, are subject to the requirements in this section.

(b) At a minimum, each EDC shall meet the requirements [of the National Electric Safety Code (C2-2007)] for minimum clearances between any transmission line and the closest vegetation [beneath it] which are set forth in the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) FAC-003, which is incorporated herein by reference and is available at www.nerc.com

(c) Except as provided at (f) below, the following shall apply in the wire zone:
1. An EDC shall not allow woody plants that naturally mature above three feet tall to grow in the wire zone, except for agricultural crops that naturally mature at 12 feet or less;
2. For plants not covered by (c)1 above, the preferred growth shall be grasses or a low-growing, compatible, scrub-shrub plant community to obtain a meadow effect where possible.

(d) Except as provided at (f) below, the EDC shall apply integrated vegetation management (IVM) in the border zone. IVM is a best management practice conveyed in the American National Standard for Tree Care Operations, Part 7 (ANSI 2006) and the International Society of Arboriculture's Best Management Practices: Integrated Vegetation Management (Miller 2007).
Note: A description of integrated vegetation management (IVM) can be found at:
www.nerc.com/docs/standards/sar/FAC-003-2_Technical_White_Paper_2008Oct22.pdf

(e) In addition to meeting the other requirements in this section, each EDC shall ensure that the following requirements for transmission lines are met, except for those instances set forth in (f) below:
1. 1. Clearing under transmission lines shall be wide enough within the EDC's right of way so that no vegetation or parts of vegetation will grow or fall into the transmission lines;
[2. An EDC shall not allow any vegetation taller than 15 feet at maturity to grow anywhere within a transmission line right of way;
3. The preferred growth in a wire zone shall be grasses or a low-growing, compatible, scrub-shrub plant community to obtain a meadow effect where possible. An EDC shall not allow woody plants that naturally mature above three feet tall to grow in the wire zone;
4. The EDC shall not allow any woody plant species that naturally matures above 15 feet to grow in the border zone. Mature height may be determined from a reliable text authorities either listed in, or equivalent to those listed in N.J.A.C. 14:5-9.5(a). Utilities shall provide this information on their web site or in a publication upon request by a ratepayer;
5. Non-woody agricultural crops, not exceeding 12 feet in height at maturity, may be grown anywhere in the right of way;
6.]
2. Only grass vegetation not exceeding a height of 18 inches shall be permitted to grow within three feet of any structure;
3. Where an EDC has cleared a right of way of vegetation and bare soil is exposed, the EDC shall comply with the soil erosion requirements of the applicable soil conservation district in order to prevent soil erosion. A list of the soil conservation districts in New Jersey may be found at www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/anr/nrc/conservdistricts.html;
4. To the extent that any plant species identified as invasive and non-indigenous to New Jersey poses a threat to the maintenance of the right of way or a hazard to electrical transmission conductors, the EDC shall not plant that species in the right of way, and shall make reasonable efforts to actively eliminate from the entire right of way the species identified as invasive and non-indigenous, see Snyder, David and Sylvan R. Kaufman, 2004. An overview of non-indigenous plant species in New Jersey. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Parks and Forestry, Office of Natural Lands Management, Natural Heritage Program, Trenton, NJ (available at www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/natural/heritage/InvasiveReport.pdf, and incorporated by reference herein, including any supplements and amendments thereto). To do so, the EDC shall use the best integrated vegetation management practices available and practical;
5. Each year in the March billing cycle, or two months prior to the commencement of vegetation management work on a particular property, whichever is earlier, each EDC shall advise customers of the requirements in this subsection, through a direct notification.

(f) Notwithstanding (d) and (e) above, an EDC may leave trees and other woody vegetation within the transmission right of way under any of the following conditions:
1. The right-of-way document, easement, indenture, deed or other written land rights, executed before Jan 1, 2007, expressly permit vegetation to be located within the transmission right of way;
2. The slope of the topography exceeds 30 degrees and the transmission right of way is such that a tree or other vegetation at mature height will be more than 150 percent of the clearance requirements for an electrical path to ground set forth in the National Electric Safety Code, §232 to §235; or
3. Trees are located within an inactive transmission corridor and at mature height will be more than 150 percent of the clearance requirements for an electrical path to ground set forth in the National Electric Safety Code, §232 to §235.

(g) For the purposes of this section, the mature height of [woody and non-woody] all vegetation, including agricultural crops, shall be determined in accordance with the publications listed in N.J.A.C. 14:5-9.5(a), or equivalent publications. Each EDC shall provide lists of acceptable species on its web site or in a publication provided free of charge upon request by a ratepayer.

(h) Each year, [before June 1] by May 31, the EDC shall develop a schedule for transmission line vegetation management, which shall be included in the EDC's annual system performance report as required by N.J.A.C. 14:5-8. The schedule shall:
1. List the transmission lines planned for vegetation management for the next four years in advance (one of the four-year cycles required at N.J.A.C. 14:5-[8.4(b)] 9.4(b));
2. Ensure that vegetation management on transmission lines is performed prior to vegetation becoming a threat to safety or service reliability[; and
3. Be distributed to affected municipalities by the EDC]
4. List the municipalities and the year when vegetation management work is anticipated to be done in each municipality.

(i) The EDC shall post the transmission line vegetation management schedule required under (h) above on its website and distribute it to affected municipalities and public authorities in accordance with N.J.A.C. 14:5-9.8.