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COLUMBIA (WACH) - The ongoing tree trimming activites in Columbia neighborhoods by SCE&G is scheduled to continue.

Residents of Forest Hills, Forest Hills North, Melrose Heights, Lyon Street, Martin Luther King, Old Shandon, Pinehurst, Historic Waverly, Sherwood Forest, Shandon, and South Kilbourne can expect to see SCE&G contractors trimming trees during the next two weeks.

The trimming will be closely monitored on a daily basis by the City of Columbia's four Certified Arborists from the Forestry and Beautification Division.

When the trimming activites began last summer, concerned residents and Midlands representatives called on SCE&G to change their tree trimming policy. In response to the community outcry, Eric Boomhower, Manager, Public Affairs and Corporate Communications with SCE&G said,

"Our customers and all of us here at SCE&G want the same thing – trees that have been properly trimmed to improve safety and reliability of electric service," he states.  "We trim to standards developed by the Tree Care Industry Association to help ensure utilities and government agencies throughout the United States are trimming to consistent guidelines that are in the best interest of tree health.  It’s better from the standpoint of tree health to remove whole limbs with a relatively small number of large cuts, versus making numerous small cuts and leaving stubbed off branches to decay or die."  Read the rest of his statement by clicking here. 

According to officials with SCE&G, the purpose of the trimming activities is to increase safety and reliability of the electric service. They also reported an 89 percent improvement in reliability in vegetation related outages in areas where trimming is completed compared to one year ago.

Guidelines state that vegetation within 8-12 feet below and beside the powerlines and up to 20 feet above the power lines must be removed.

For more information about SCE&G's tree trimming efforts, you can visit the tree trimming website, call their 24-hour Customer Service Center toll free at 1-800-251-7234, or email SCEGContactUs@SCANA.com