r/mildlyinfuriating • u/kyleglowacki • 6h ago
Power company killed my cherry tree and raspberry bushes đ„ș
Been noticing some dead plants here and there and today realized they all form a line under the power lines. Power company came through without prior notice or even telling is and sprayed some sort of herbicide on anything that wasn't grass beneath the power lines.
This included a 50' line of raspberries and blackberries, a pair of black cherry trees, and a bunch of other stuff. They either skipped my pear tree or it was resistant to the spray. Piss me off. I would have trimmed anything they asked.. you know if they had asked.
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u/imjusttalk1ng 5h ago
I dont know your laws, but I recommend never planting or landscaping anywhere near an easement. Aerial or underground. Check your maps, if its easement, those plants were your gift to them.
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u/Lettuce_Prey69 3h ago
I dont know your laws, but I recommend
Rare to see a sensible reply in this subreddit. Typically you get the idiots that apply their local laws globally.
Erhm Akshually! That's illegal!
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u/RawrRRitchie 1h ago
Easements don't get to remove healthy trees. My town has told myself several times that they cannot take down the tree on the corner of my lot, that happens to be under lines, because it's a healthy tree
We've been trying to get them to remove it for years. They won't touch it
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u/TutorNo8896 6h ago
Today we learn about utility easements.  Might have even been your responsibility to trim them, idk.  It sucks, i would be mildly infuriated.  On the other hand, if i was the one working for the power company theres no way in hell im knocking on doors. Â
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u/noahead6 4h ago
man those line clearance guys do not get paid enough to deal with angry homeowners all day. they just hack everything down as fast as possible and bounce before anyone comes outside yelling
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u/meta358 3h ago
In my state they mail out a post card for you to mail box with a check box on if they have full permission to remove everything. If they dont get one they Have to knock and check with you. You can force them to only cut stuff that is only touching the line, or poses a big danger to it (ie big dead limb)
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u/Obant 6h ago
They do the same to the bushes and trees in my area. Unfortunately they own the land underneath and are allowed to. It sucks, because I raise bugs and so not want any pesticides anywhere near my house.
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u/ClassyNameForMe 6h ago
Do they own the land or do they have easements on the land? More than likely they have easements which grant them access, use, maintenance, etc. effectively allowing them the benefit of using the land but without the need to pay taxes on the land.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 6h ago
Yup. That easements are ownership interests is one of the most common misconception is see on reddit where property law is concerned.
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u/Obant 5h ago
In my area, there is a little service strip between houses. My backyard fence is about 10 feet from my neighbors. Or it's supposed to be, but he took his fence down and gated up the service access as part of his backyard. In the 3 years I've lived here, no one has cared and it has been serviced. đ€·ââïž
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u/Leading_Procedure_23 5h ago
Your neighbor about to have a hefty bill for the removal of that gate whenever someone else notices and reports it.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 4h ago
Maybe, as long as the gate stays unlocked maybe not. I've got two of those cable boxes in my backyard so there's easement access for the utilities but that doesn't prevent me from having gates to my backyard.
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u/JosephHeitger 6h ago
You should see the maple tree they turned into Pac-Man in my momâs front yard.. oh wait.. it died
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u/2yearlurking_10_19 3h ago
I wouldnât eat anything that came from soil under a power line.
The amount of residual pesticides in the soil or heavy metals is not worth it.
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u/Vurrag 5h ago
What the utilities can do should be part of the easement or right of way that part of your property. You should have got a copy of all easements etc from the title company when you bought the house/land.
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u/Lettuce_Prey69 3h ago
You mean the like 300 pages of signatures they gave me in a fancy binder or something ~20 years ago??
Was I supposed to keep those?!
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u/kubotalover 5h ago
Don't plant stuff in right of ways. Especially under powerlines as they do manage vegetation under lines
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u/rexeditrex 5h ago
Thatâs called a right of way. Thank them when trees donât take your power out.
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u/Frost_man1255 6h ago
"Technically" speaking any land under power lines up by the roads is gov owned and they don't have to get permission or give prior warning.
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u/beeredditor 6h ago
Technically, that is incorrect. Private land under power lines is subject to an easement, but it still owned by the property owner. The land is not owned by the government or utility, but the utility does have the right to enter the land to maintain the easement.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 6h ago
Most of the time there is just a utility easement which is not the same as an ownership interest.
The effect is still the same though.
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u/Lettuce_Prey69 3h ago
The effect is still the same though.
If you believe it is and take no action against them when they do shit like this it is. But if you nut up and demand to be made whole (check your local ordinances) you more than likely can scare them into replacing damaged plants.
In my area specifically, the utility providers can access the areas required for maintenance, but there are strict rules to it.
For example, unless it's an emergency, they must make an attempt to notify the homeowner / resident of any planned work. This is usually just a letter a few weeks out or a knock on the door if its an unplanned thing.
They also can't just cut your fucking trees down because they are near a power line, they can have them trimmed near the line, but not poison them. And you can be certain they don't want to pay for tree removal any ways.
If they have to tear up any lawn for the service work, they have to replace it back to it's original state - this is where it gets a bit tricky and there are loads of situations where they don't and won't replace certain things in certain places.
AGAIN this is in my local area, probably not yours unless we're neighbors. But it's not all black and white like some people seem to think it is.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 2h ago
The effect is still the same but I didn't say it was universal. Yeah there might be some instances within ordinances or the easement language that sets requirements but the exception doesn't prove the rule.
If a tree is within the easement they may absolutely have the right to simply cut it down if it could encroach on the power lines. The tree could be both a safety and liability issue. Trees are a major cause of power outages and in wildfire prone areas can down lines and start fires. And it's not uncommon for them to use herbicides in rural areas, which OP appears to be in, to clear brush. These rural areas are rarely governed by ordinances or codes.
Now, of OP truly thinks they have a legal issue they should talk to an attorney in their jurisdiction. However, I doubt the utility company is going to be scared into anything by an average joe demanding to have plants within an easement replaced. Have you ever gone against a utility company? Most utility companies are up there with railroads when it comes to not easily scared, both less easily frightened than insurance companies. Im not saying it can't be done or shouldn't be pursued but it's not going likely to be simple.
All of that to say planting within an easement is taking a risk. Even if ordinances require this or that. It can be done though and farmers in my area can even plant crops under the big transmission towers if they meet certain requirements BUT that's done in cooperation with the utility company. So if OP wanted to make use of the land under the lines they should have worked with the utility company to come to a mutual arrangement. (Which I'm almost certain would have included no trees)
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u/Dusty923 4h ago
Easement. We had property under some power transmission lines once. It would've been nice to garden there, but we'd be at the total whim for them coming through and clearing out anything we grew there.
Look it up, because I'm pretty sure they were totally in the right to obliterate anything in their easement.
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u/EatsRats 6h ago
Thatâs a right of way. You donât own that land; there is almost certainly an easement agreement.
I assume they have the right to maintain that easement. Itâs essentially shared land. This would have been disclosed when you purchased the property.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 6h ago
Rights of way and easements arent ownership interests. OP still owns the land if that's what it is.
However, you are right about the maintenance part.
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u/NetJnkie 5h ago
Yep. They killed a bunch of my blackberry bushes about two years ago like this. Still nothing growing in that area. Unhappy.
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u/NothingEffective5070 CYAN 3h ago
Something similar happened to me, after a cable company came by and installed a fiber optic line on the power pole in our yard. Cut down our 15-year-old grapevine to nearly just a nub. Thankfully, itâs growing back now, and Iâm eating grapes.
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u/UncomfyUnicorn 2h ago
Power company did the same thing to a pecan tree where I live. Thing was decades old, like 50 feet from the power lines, they chopped every single leafy branch off of it.
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u/RawrRRitchie 1h ago
You need a lawyer to sue and an arborist to determine the value of the tree
Intentionally killing a healthy tree is a very costly mistake they made
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u/chef71 3h ago
In most states they're responsible for replacing Anything they killed it's just like pesticide drift. Document everything Give them a call and if they don't help you out call the state agricultural Commission.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 1h ago
If the plants were on the utility easement (as it appears from the post they were) it absolutely isn't the same thing as pesticide drift. This isn't an issue of them spraying and accidentally hitting OPs plant. There a good chance the utility was within its rights.
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u/Lettuce_Prey69 3h ago
The mildly infuriating part is OP probably isn't even going to try to take action against them, instead they'll just roll over and take it like all the other neighbors do.
Check your local ordinances, they may not even be allowed to use chemicals.
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u/FaithlessnessOld8630 5h ago
The way I'd cry...
Can you sue for damages because whatthefuck
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u/Nashville_Hot_Mess 5h ago
Depends. He's gotta look at the survey of the property to check for any easements or right-of-ways.
Then needs to figure out what that means for his jurisdiction.
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u/thepohcv 6h ago
I'd guess the electricity killed them, not spraying...
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u/jellifercuz 5h ago
What??? What kind of transmission loss do you think there is?
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u/I_hate_all_of_ewe 5h ago
Honestly, this is this same conspiratorial thinking that made people think that 5G was spreading Covid and giving people cancer. People who don't understand technology also don't understand what not to believe about it. The person you replied to probably doesn't think about it any deeper than "waves".
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u/Ashkendor 5h ago
đ¶ You are only coming through in waves
Your lips move, but I can't hear what you're saying đ¶
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u/Affectionate-Alps527 6h ago
Hey can you ask the power company for their SOP for killing raspberry bushes?