Atlantic Electric Scientist Talks of Birds, Bees and Power Lines

COLD SPRING — Birds and bees were integral parts of Michael Garrity’s power line presentation to Cape May County Chamber of Commerce Thur., July 19.
Garrity, Atlantic City Electric’s lead environmental scientist, outlined the utility’s environmental planning at the monthly lunch meeting held this month at Harbor View Restaurant, Ocean Drive.
A major part of that is to ensure transmission lines are far enough apart so that birds, with wing spans up to six feet, cannot touch two wires at a time, causing death and possible outages, and that wild flowers under those lines help bees pollinate and flourish. That keeps bees productive making honey, and farmers smiling as they help crops grow.
In the utility’s region are over 8,000 miles of transmission lines. That’s enough vegetation to keep tree-trimming crews busy full-time, clearing low-hanging limbs away from power lines. As Garrity put it, when falling trees topple power lines, and lines fall, power dies, and nobody likes that.
“Vegetation Management” is one part of the Sustainability Program, the other is Avian Protection.
A bit of history before he continued. Garrity cited a massive electric outage in August 2003 when a tree “came into contact with a transmission line in Ohio.”
That simple gravity-induced incident left over 50 million in the Northeast U.S. and Southeast Canada in the dark. After that, the U.S. Department of Energy instructed electric utilities to develop vegetation management programs.
Then, in 2006 the state Board of Public Utilities enacted its own set of vegetation management rules, readopted in 2008, that “ensure consistency” across the state’s four electric distribution companies.
Garrity said of the avian protection program that the utility is retrofitting existing lines where needed as well as maintaining new standards for construction where applicable.
Garrity, who is familiar with Cape May County, and once worked with a Stone Harbor engineering firm, said he knows the importance the county’s population places on ecology, especially with migratory birds.
When electric crews must work in wetland areas, he said plastic and wood matting is used so that the impact to the environment is minimized.
In grassy areas beneath transmission lines, Garrity said the utility incorporates vegetation management that helps to establish and maintain those tall grasses that are home to butterflies and moths.
An 8.6–acre tract in Dennis Township is an example of the utility’s Pollinator Habitat Enhancement program, Garrity said. That property is less than 1,000 feet from Beaver Swamp Wildlife Management Area. Parts of it are containing within the N.J. Audubon Society’s Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, Great Cedar Swamp Important Bird Area.
That parcel, he said, was once used for equestrian grazing, and was packed down tightly before the utility became involved in its restoration.
At Cape May Point State Park, the utility works with Audubon Society to create a maritime forest restoration project. When done, that project will mean 1,400 acres of maritime forest, a rarity in heavily developed coastal area, will provide habitat for migratory songbirds and raptors.
Atlantic City Electric was also involved with funding in the tidal wetlands restoration of Cox Hall Creek in Lower Township. That 87-acre parcel had been detached from Delaware Bay to allow hay farming and mosquito control. That action meant tidal flushing of the area was impossible, thus phragmites spread throughout the tract.
Recently, the creek was returned to tidal flow, and it is hoped that, in time, the habitat will return to its more natural state with restoration of estuarine inter-tidal emergency wetlands for fish and wildlife.
Elsewhere, Garrity said the utility is involved in restoration of eel grass in Manahawkin Bay. That project involved planting and maintaining thousands of sprigs of eel grass over a 46,850-square-foot underwater site.
At the end of Garrity’s presentation, he was asked why the utility does not place more transmission lines underground, to prevent trees falling which results in outages?
He said economics was the prime reason. It costs from $2 million to $ 3 million per mile to place lines underground compared with $300,000 for overhead lines.
Further, he said, when there is a problem with a downed line, it is easier to find and fix a downed wire than having to trace an underground line, and dig to make repairs.
Parts of this story were first published at capemaycountyherald.com
Contact Campbell at (609) 886-8600 Ext 28 or at: al.c@cmcherald.com