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Nancy Smith

Trees and Power Lines: Has Coral Gables Been Entirely Honest with Its Citizens?

September 19, 2017 - 8:15am

During a special meeting last Thursday, Coral Gables city commissioners and residents took it in turn to lambaste Florida Power and Light Co. for virtually everything Hurricane Irma did to collapse and darken the sweltering Miami-Dade city.

You name it: Failure to remove a transformer from a tree, broken power poles, downed trees left tangled in power lines, crews seen "just standing around" and, of course, the big one -- slow-to-no power restoration.

All FPL's fault.

Said Mayor Raúl Valdés-Fauli of FPL's service, "The level of support for our existing lines has been pathetic."

I Beg to Differ

Added a stern Vice Mayor Patricia Keon to a utility official in attendance, "Go back to the people at FPL and tell them we're tired of being dependent on a monopoly and on a Public Service Commission that does not force FPL to behave ..."

The next day city attorneys fired off a letter to FPL giving the company an ultimatum: Restore the power across the city by Sunday (Sept. 17) or be subject to "a fine of $500 per day consistent with Section 2-203 of the City of Coral Gables Code and fines up to $15,000 consistent with Section 162.09, Florida Statutes."

As you might imagine, this didn't sit well with the nation's third largest electric utility. And not just because Irma affected all 35 counties and the 27,000 square miles the company serves, or that 1,000 restoration workers, including 400 vegetation crewmen, are supporting Coral Gables in the wake of this unprecedented hurricane.

It's because, of all the municipalities in Florida devastated by the big storm, Coral Gables was probably the least entitled to point fingers when the lights and air conditioning went out.

It's because -- and here's the important thing -- not once during the near 90-minute meeting did commissioners tell their residents that FPL had warned them about Coral Gables' practice of planting the wrong trees in the wrong place -- then failing to trim them -- that city vegetation policies and practices invite outage in little more than a stiff wind.

In fairness to the city, commissioners did vow to "have a serious conversation" about underground power lines when the storm is behind them. But, while that will keep the power on, it won't stop badly planted giant trees from blowing over and damaging other property.

Have a look at this video, illustrating the trees that have posed the biggest challenge to restoring power in Coral Gables.  

Residents were kept in the dark in more ways than one.

In the first place, FPL has several permits pending with the city for important infrastructure-strengthening improvements, including the installation of technology enhancements that improve outage response time and can even prevent some outages. Why pending? Why haven't these permits been hustled along?

In the second place, the weatherhead can be damaged during a storm by falling trees/branches or wind-blown debris. If this happens, the customer has to hire an electrician to repair it before the utility can reconnect power.

Most important of all, Coral Gables is a tree-canopy city -- very appealing when the sun shines. A truly aesthetic element that should -- should -- contribute to quality of living. But to make tree canopies work with overhead power lines, they have to be the right species of tree -- trees with a strong and deep root system -- planted a proper distance apart, FPL spokesperson Mark Bubriski told me last week. Unfortunately, Coral Gables' trees are massive -- some are more than 90 years old -- many, like the ficus, are nonnative and city staff are well aware of their shallow root structure.

Ficus trees can blow over in a stiff wind, never mind a Category 4 hurricane. And when they do, they block roads, hook out power lines, often crash on a nearby home. FPL needs a special crew to deal with those situations. "Sometimes they're so massive, they're over, but halfway still in the ground and in standing water," said Bubriski.

One FPL arborist said new Coral Gables trees -- date palms, for instance -- come in fully grown and are planted so close together their fronds can't be unwrapped: They're too close to the power lines.

"It can easily take one of our special crews a full day to clear and restore power to a single Coral Gables home," he said.

On Monday evening, FPL -- generally mum when threatened with a legal action --  issued this rare response to Coral Gables' letter:

We understand that it’s extremely frustrating for our customers to be without power. That said, frivolous lawsuits and ludicrous code violations that attempt to pressure us into providing preferential treatment for their City will not work. Our focus is on restoring power to all of our customers, and we will not be moved by self-entitled politicians who are looking for someone to blame for the City’s irresponsibly managed tree program. The fact is the city of Coral Gables has for many years resisted FPL’s well-documented efforts to trim trees and harden our electric system. Unfortunately for our customers in that area, they are now paying the price in terms of extended outages due to hundreds of trees that have fallen into our lines.

While we do not have a precise assessment of the number of City-owned trees that may have been improperly located, resulting in unnecessarily extensive damage to electrical equipment and extended outages for Coral Gables residents, there’s no doubt that the City’s extreme approach to trees is the cause of the problem. More importantly, it threatens the safety of the residents of Coral Gables and the lives of the lineworkers who are trying to restore power.

We have restored 97 percent of Miami-Dade, and thousands of crews are working to restore the remaining customers without power. After restoration is complete, FPL would be happy to work with the City constructively and provide them recommendations on how to avoid some of these problems from reoccurring during severe weather in the future. However, it is important to note, that numerous attempts we’ve made in the past to address the impact of the City’s dense, overgrown vegetation and tree canopy has on the reliability of their residents’ electric service has been ignored. 

It seems to me Coral Gables rolled the dice with the health, safety and welfare of their residents. Commissioners had to know what can happen after a big storm, they went through Andrew 25 years ago. One North Gables resident didn't connect the dots, but he made the most salient point to come out of Thursday's special meeting: "It's always the same ... we were three weeks without power in Andrew and two weeks without it in Wilma. ..."  

City officials need to take responsibility for their blind eye: Residents are living with the consequences of choices they made. It's that simple.

Said Bubriski, "The trouble is, there's no law against dismissing a utility's advice and planting the wrong trees in the wrong place." 

But maybe there should be.

Reach Nancy Smith at nsmith@sunshinestatenews.com or at 228-282-2423. Twitter: @NancyLBSmith


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Comments

There are 57 electric utility providers in the state of Florida. FPL is by far the least expensive. In fact their rates are 35% below the national average. That is a fact. Be careful what you wish for

Coral Gables has failed to keep the trees cut back to avoid the branches to intertwine with the power lines or become top heavy and a risk to its citizens andctheir properties! Replace all the Ficus trees with Oak trees and keep the oak trees trimmed Yes i blame the City of Coral Gables for the devastation- Coral Gables administrators stop pointing the fingers at FPL :no line would withdstand a tree pulling it down with its weight Take responsibility for the devastation of our coty due to your negligence!

Councils and Commissions will be as they are ......... Unfortunately.

Or for half the money, make your own power from solar like I do and is perfectly matched to Florida's energy demand peak, A/C........................................ Then you don't have to pay for not just power but also no monthly fees or monthly bills.................................And well shopped doesn't cost much, especially with the low interest loans................... Learn what parts to buy, buy them at a good price and have a local electrician permit, install for under $1k/kw. Each kw of solar averages 5.5kwh/day of power in Florida so look at your power bill for kwh/day or calculate it to find how many kw of solar you need.

What a strategy from the Coral Gables Town Board. They disregard the warnings, and advise from FPL on how to mitigate possible power losses in the event of a hurricane. Then they blame FPL for their problems. Sounds like the classic democratic strategy of creating the problem then placing the blame on someone else once the proverbial brown stuff hits the fan. Next thing you know the Coral Gables TB will come up with some half baked idea of their own. Phase 2 of the democratic plan, try and fix the problem they created while raising taxes. I have some solid advice for the residents of Coral Gables; Like a few others in this column have mentioned vote all of them out including the town attorney's. If the TB wants my advise, "GET IN LINE AND WAIT LIKE THE REST OF US HAve DONE." You were warned that this would happen if you didn't take action. FPL has been working diligently getting power restored to the Florid residents. They don't need the disrespect of a TB that is too stupid to read the tea leaves of what can happen in a major hurricane to your city. I love the way Coral Gables looks with the live oaks arching over the streets, but how far do you go when it comes to the safety of your residents?? You screwed up now pay the piper.

The ones who are whining and blaming the trees are fpl. They did a shit job as usual and are looking for excuses. Trees didn't cause 1,020,000 customers to lose power in miami dade, from a storm that missed. Compare a storm that hit Kyushu Japan with a population 1.3 million only 114,00 homes lost power. A storm hits Okinawa with a population of 13million and only 54k lose power! Fpl who you kidding with your shit 19th century grid?! Get the fuck out of here!

Because, as we all know, FPL wants power to fail as often and for as long a time as they can, so they can bill customers less and earn less revenue.

Use the power of your vote. Don't vote for the current Coral Gables city commissioners who only care about themselves -- not the residents they are elected to represent. Certainly, there MUST be other people who can do their jobs and who are willing to take the advice of FPL.

Actually, Coral Gables Commissioners did the right thing standing up to FPL. As for advice from FPL, that's a joke. The Gables trims their trees on the swale and FPL is supposed to trim the ones on private property.

Why would you think FPL should to trim your trees? should they cut and edge the lawn for you while there? If a tree is on your property it is your responsibility to maintain it. Should it be near or interfere with the power line they will come trim so that it is safe, it is then your responsibility as a property owner to maintain properly. IF EACH PROPERTY OWNER, BOTH RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL, WOULD ADDRESS LANDSCAPING YEARLY BEFORE HURRICANE SEASON THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH LESS DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES. Maybe FPL should send a bill to homeowners who's trees damaged their equipment and they would care before a major storm. Everybody is hot and tired and reacts to situations differently, I chose to learn from my experiences and improve myself and not waste energy pointing fingers and blaming others.

Yeah, common sense, that sounds great in theory. And it might work within cities. But for those of us who live in the country, removing all trees within 20 foot of a power line would be devastating. You would destroy entire habitats. In my 2 acre plot alone, nearly a dozen ancient trees would have to be cut down - because they fall within your 20 foot guideline. At the current rate of cutting old growth trees, this generation will be the last to see genuine forests - not planned planted pines.

Removing trees within 20ft of a power line would essentially remove 80% of the trees in this city! Power lines crisscross this city like black spider webs. Lots of people have power lines in front of their house and in the back too! Where the hell are they to plant any trees?!

Is anyone telling you to remove trees in the country? I cant imagine that.

Town sounds like a Democrat Town....always blaming ALL on someone else...& Whining about Common Sense Problem...A DEADLY HURRICANE...I'm born raised Florida Cracker and from age 6yr. old to 66 now...FPL has always been AAA+++ on Hurricane Restoring Power from born in Tampa to Growing up on east Coast on several DIRECT HITS.....SO take your Political Blaming and Stick it...DUKE POWER is the REAL PROBLEM......not FPL....you Yuppie Stuck your Nose in the Air.....Now having to live like your Ancestor did & NEVER WHINED.....

You can take your cracker ass and your 3 yellow teeth back to the swamp. Some of us spend a lot on power only to get the same shit every time the wind farts. Live like my ancestors? If I had to live like my ancestors I wouldn't live in this hot humid drained out swamp full of Cretins and mosquitoes like you.

Was this written by an FPL publicist? What utter bs. If FPL would spend less on empty PR & fighting solar power and more on ACTUALLY improving their infrastructure, the lines would be underground and our trees would be seen only as what they are -- incredibly essential to the environment. BTW, I don't live in Coral Gables or even near it, so I don't have that potential bias.

A lot of communities have neen encourage to dig the utilities underground but they refuse to so cause of the cost and time it would take,and don't forget they'll make their property look bad during the work,coral gables and the grove were one of many asked to do so and redused,stop blaming others,my brother was ok ne of the ones nearly 20 yrs ago sitting on the meeting,he was one of the engineers trying to solve the issue way back and they still didn't want any part in it

Did you miss the part where Coral Gables has not approved the applications for infrastructure improvement? That falls on the city. Plus, just because lines can be put underground does not always mean that is the absolute best option. In highly prone flood areas, the salt water can rapidly deteriorate the underground lines, which then have to be replaced. With that replacement comes a power outage. I don't live there, either. I just find the whole thing insane.

a real smart one... because 90% of Florida runs the possibility of flooding. As soon as that happens, power must be manually cut to all areas with underground lines to prevent electrocutions. It is a power mandate.

This is exactly one of the recommendations from last years Citizens for Responsible Spending Post-Hurricane Recovery Task Force report issued by Chair Jeff Kottkamp (former Lt. Governor) and Sam Bell, P.E. (Ret.) who worked for decades for FPL...that report and an op-ed column appeared yesterday in Sunshine State News...the recommendations are common sense and will help foster a quicker recovery next time around...Tallahassee, like Coral Gables loves our trees, but we do have to cognizant that there has to be a willingness to compromise - some tree shade so electricity can stay on

A smart legislator should propose legislation that makes it illegal to plant trees within 20 feet of power lines. It is smart landscaping management, but also a public safety issue. All trees that are in violation of the new law would have to be removed. It would literally save millions in trimming, outage, and replacement costs over the long term. That would be some common sense legislation that we could all live better with, which is exactly why it will probably never happen.

How about a smart legislator who asks whose stupid idea is it to have above ground power lines in a hurricane zone???????

a real smart one... because 90% of Florida runs the possibility of flooding. As soon as that happens, power must be manually cut to all areas with underground lines to prevent electrocutions. It is a power mandate.

Every medium to large city has underground power, they don't shut off power every time a storm hits! The system is actually designed to handle full submersion, kind of like underwater power transmission cables! Oh by the way I've been an electrician for 30 years.

An "electrician" huh? Well, I am a lineworker from Ohio who was in Florida for the restoration effort. Speaking from first hand experience, a typical URD system is not the same as submarine cable. We service the Lake Erie Islands with submerged lines, they are manufactured specifically for such use. Water intrusion is no doubt a potential issue for a URD distribution system, especially salt water. These is also another potential issue for URD systems; trees. Root systems can cause cables to fault, so buring lines alongside trees does not necessarily solve such an issue. Let's also not forget that URD restoration is much more time consuming and unsightly. I cannot tell you how many angered customers I have encountered when digging up bad cable in a customers yard. Then there is the cost aspect. Customers complain about the outages and say to go underground, yet they complain that their current bill is too high. What's going happen to that bill if a more expensive system is installed? Rates will have to go up. It amazes me how people contradict themselves. Moving on to the people of Florida. I would like to say thank you for all the kind words and gratitude that was expressed from those without power. Working 16 hour days in the heat with fire retardant pants and long sleeve shirts, hard hat, rubber gloves, rubber sleeves and rubber over shoes was grueling at best. The appreciation that was shown helped keep us motivated. Thanks! Last thing, I would like to acknowlege our Lineman Brother from West Penn Power who was injured during the resoration effort. Our prayers are with him and his family.

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