Portland General Electric (PGE) completed approximately 100 replacements of
electrical service drops that were attached to trees on Mountain Properties
during 2021 and has continued the efforts this year, according to Andrea
Platt, PGE Media Relations. Platt noted that this will be a “multi year project”
to bring the drops up to current standards.

Property owners who have a PGE stake on their property with a work order
starting with the letter “M” are encouraged to contact the company to work
through design options for their site.

“Each of these tree attachments are dealt with on a case-by-case basis,” Platt
said. “You can imagine it’s time consuming.”

She added that there are currently hundreds of ongoing conversations with
various landowners, while approximately 200 attachments are also on U.S.
Forest Service land.

Platt noted that people generally understand the safety component of the
project.

“That seems to be resonating,” she said. “That’s a good thing.”

Platt added that almost all poles that hold distribution lines are “direct buried”
into the ground, a standard industry practice where the pole is inserted
directly into the ground to the required depth and then backfilled with tamped
gravel.

No precise timeline for the project completion was available, and Platt added
that the efforts have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic and
supply chain issues.

For more information, or if you have a stake on your property and want to
contact PGE, please visit https://portlandgeneral.com/tree-attachment.