Asplundh: FPL's $2.37 billion partner in 'Distribution Vegetation Management'

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Actually, our favorite section in the story we ran across in Transmission & Distribution World magazine, titled FPL Invests in Infrastructure Resistant to Hurricanes, is the part subheaded "Distribution Vegetation Management." That, of course, is an industry euphamism for the hat-racking that Florida homeowners are so accustomed to witnessing when an Asplundh truck chances into their neighborhood.

According to the article:

In 2008, FPL continued its three-year cycle for clearing vegetation from distribution main lines and completed the second year of its six-year cycle for neighborhood lines. Overall, FPL trimmed trees and cleared vegetation from more than 11,000 miles throughout the state. Total costs in 2008 were $57.9 million, with 2009 costs expected to be $68.3 million.

That means that FPL paid out nearly $60 million in '08 and will top that amount by nearly $10 million in '09 to pay companies like Asplundh to keep the lines clean. OK, so we know the cost to the customers.

But, at what brutal cost to the trees? And, at what profit to Asplundh?

Ah, well ... we had no idea that Asplundh, with its 28,606 employees nationwide does so very well at the hat-racking business, thank you! And, by well, we mean they pulled in $2.37 billion in revenues for 2008.

That's "B" as in "BILLION," folks, earning them a coveted spot in the Top 200 rankings by Forbes Magazine of "America's Largest Private Companies." Who knew?

FPL hat-racking? Anna Maria Islanders have a story to tell

The 2010 tropical storm season is just around the corner and that means all those out-of-state FPL-affiliated tree-trimming crews from Asplundh and other companies will descend on Florida and commence their annual spate of hat-racking trees, wherever they can find them even remotely close to a power distribution line.

The Anna Maria Islander reported in March 2007 on a local couple's horror story. The newspaper report outlined FPL's PR pitch about the professionalism of their tree-trimmers in the runup to line clearing in the Holmes Beach area of the island in anticipation of the 2007 storm season.

But, local couple Pat and Austin Rice had a warning for Islanders:

"If you have some trees, don't just say ‘yes' to trimming," Austin Rice said from his home in the 500 block of 74th Street last week. "If you say ‘yes,' say ‘we want to know exactly what you're going to do."

The Rices said they weren't opposed to tree-trimming, per se, they just didn't understand why their olive tree had been decimated by the Asplundh crew:

"They just came in and ‘whack, whack,'" said Pat Rice. "It wasn't hurting the power lines at all."

"Every year we trim them," Austin Rice said.

He said a contractor came to the house on Feb. 25 and said a crew would need to trim on Feb. 26.

The Rices agreed, but the crew didn't arrive on Feb. 26.

The next day, the Rices left Holmes Beach for a visit to Punta Gorda. Austin Rice remembers seeing the orange Asplundh trucks on the road headed for Anna Maria Island.

When the couple returned home, two of the three olive trees had been "trimmed" — one had been trimmed of about a quarter of its leaves and branches.

A complaint was registered with FPL and several days later, on a Saturday, a crew returned to the Rices' yard to rectify the complaint.

"The only thing left to do was cut it down," Austin Rice said.

Read the full Islander story online, here.

Residents say FPL 'massacres' trees in Coconut Grove

Residents of Coconut Grove have blown the whistle on what they say is the "massacre" of trees along Main Highway.

Reported at Coconut Grove Grapevine, one resident of 26 years said that "along Main Highway the incredible trees that once covered the road now how gaping holes."

Apparently, the Reuters news agency has picked up the story and there's more to come ...