NEWPORT — The City Council spoke out in favor of its trees on Wednesday, unanimously passing a resolution opposing General Assembly bills that would allow power distribution companies like Rhode Island Energy to cut or remove trees and vegetation on public or private land.
“We don’t need that,” Councilwoman Lynn Underwood told Ceglie at Wednesday night’s Newport City Council meeting. “We don’t need people trimming our vegetation.”
The bills in question, Rhode Island House Bill 5656 and its sister Senate Bill 0466, would allow power distribution companies to conduct “vegetation management activities” such as cutting down or removing trees and vegetation on public or private property under a plan approved by the RI Division of Public Utilities has been approved.
The City Council resolution argues that the bills do not require local authority or arborist involvement, that the scope of these vegetation plans is not clearly defined, the extension of powers to private property is not specific, and the potential costs of the plans are not specifically outlined. It is resolved to ask the Senate and House of Representatives to withdraw the bills and establish a broad stakeholder committee to draft a statewide vegetation management plan with input from municipalities, tree guards and RI Energy, among other stakeholders.
State Senator Alana DiMario and representatives from Rhode Island Energy argued during the Senate Commerce Committee hearing on May 9 that the bill would protect against vegetation-caused outages during increasingly powerful storms by giving RI Energy the ability to protect vegetation around the To manage supply infrastructure within the framework of public and private rights of the way.
Maureen Cronin, chair of the Newport Tree and Open Space Commission, spoke out against the bill during the Senate committee hearing, saying the issue DiMario and RI Energy are talking about is not an issue for Newport because the Tree Warden and the Public Services Department work together to solve problems when trees or vegetation obstruct service lines.
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“If you take the position that Rhode Island Energy takes that the utility or provider providing the service should make the decision about what gets done and maybe graciously give us an opinion, then you end up becoming a city that is not managed by the people who live and work there and who have been chosen to serve it,” Cronin said.
Finally, after hearing Cronin’s testimony and other testimonies, the Senate committee withheld the bill for further consideration. The House Enterprise Committee held its own version of the bill for further consideration in March, co-sponsored by Rep. Lauren Carson.
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https://www.newportri.com/story/news/local/2023/06/01/newport-city-council-votes-to-oppose-tree-cutting-bill/70257949007/
