property rights for power lines

trees were the main power-outage culprit during central ohio’s storm. branches snapped off due to the weight of the ice and landed on power (and telephone, cable, etc.) lines. we took the truck and followed our power lines down to the sub station, and i lost count of the trees resting on the line. this of course increase the work that power crews must do to restore electricity, so much so in fact that my road still has no power, five days later.

in the past, the electric companies would go along and cut down limbs in their way, which was not only expensive but also infringed on the property rights of the land owner. the power company cut back on doing this in my area, perhaps for both reasons. it’s likely that it was far to expensive to trim trees around miles and miles of line in rural areas.

i can’t figure out why this burden always falls with the utility and not the other way around. it seems a more sensible solution would be to hold land owners accountable for damage caused when their tree strikes a power line. land owners are already held liable for damage their trees do to other private citizens’ property, and i’m not sure why this can’t be extended to include damage to a utility company’s property. safety arguments don’t hold water when you realize the same is done for telephone and cable lines as well, which – i believe – don’t pose the same safety risk.