Comment And Response

Recent comment from "Anonymous" regarding my post of 6/15/11, I've Been Asplundhered!, where I suggest AEP might someday consider burying their "fucking lines":

What happens when they bury their fucking lines? Do they dig a trench to bury their fucking lines? Does the trench pass through the trees' root zone? Do the trees die from the root damage? Do you really think that there has never been a single electrical utility that fully considered the possibility of going underground?
If this experience actually affected you so deeply, why not put some effort into finding a solution? A truly inspired person might invest their time in researching a viable alternative.

Buster responds:

Dear Anonymous: Not exactly a timely comment, but that's OK. And I suspect you have a connection to Asplundh or AEP.

No, I don't believe electric utilities have fully considered going underground. Quite the opposite. I think their policy is just to say, "Too expensive," then pray we shut up. I think they'll bury residential lines only when forced to/paid to. And I know utilities don't give a shit about property appearance or value, or the concerns of homeowners. They care only -- ONLY -- about clearing lines. Nothing else is important, and AEP has made certain Asplundh got that message.

Now, I'm no utility or construction engineer, and I bet you aren't either, but I do believe retro-fitting residential areas to underground lines would be viable, and I believe it would be the best solution. It would also be a huge and very expensive undertaking. Customers would need to share in the cost. And it would create some problems, as you point out. But Asplundh's heavy-handed approach causes plenty of problems in the current set-up. Recently, their "trimmers" killed 12 mature trees on the Green in downtown Worthington. Unacceptable.

Underground lines aren't perfect, but they're vastly preferable to overhead -- safer, lower maintenance, and far more attractive. And let's face it -- wires strung stick to stick up in the air is the seminal delivery technology of Edison and Tesla. You'd think we'd have moved forward by now.