- Target:
- Thomas May, President of NSTAR
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- www.facebook.com
Needham Trees is a community group organized to protest the clear cutting of trees along the NSTAR transmission line.
We do not oppose NSTAR’s right to maintain the transmission line. We rely on NSTAR to ensure a steady power supply for all of our homes and businesses.
We do oppose the abrupt change in their management practices being employed by NSTAR.
For 48 years this transmission line have been managed through a system of trimming and tree removal only when it was necessary and only after communication with the abutter on the affected properties.
At no point has there been a power outage resulting from a tree hitting a transmission line. We have asked for information on the number of instances from NSTAR and to date they have not provided one.
Lacking any information that this is actually related to service we conclude that this change has more to do with the economics of maintaining their transmission and distribution lines at the lowest possible cost regardless of the impact on the neighbors.
We, the undersigned customers of Northeast Utilities and citizens of the town of Needham, petition Northeast Utilities to cease its planned clear cutting of all trees and work together with its neighbors, town officials and state agencies in order to provide reliable electric service without decimating the environment of the Needham neighborhoods.
We call upon Northeast Utilities to:
Limit the work to reasonable removal of vegetation that currently threatens transmission lines.
Implement a phased vegetation management approach rather than clear cutting of every tree.
Identify and resolve ground level safety, erosion, noise and visual pollution, and water resource issues created by the proposed work.
Communicate with abutters, in writing, defining the scope of planned work and present a written plan of mitigation for properties damaged by this work.
Northeast Utilities claim that this project is mandated by new federal mandates is inconsistent with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requirements that are limited to transmission lines carrying greater voltage than the Needham line.
We demand that the Northeast Utilities behave as a good and reasonable neighbor, a responsible corporate citizen and adhere to its own statement of environmental stewardship:
“The operational activities of our company are conducted with an awareness of the potential environmental impacts created by our infrastructure.”
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Preserve Needham Trees petition to Thomas May, President of NSTAR was written by Jeff Fitzgerald and is in the category Environment at GoPetition.