One arrested at KU protest. Utility clear-cuts trees on another Lexington street.
One woman was arrested at a protest against Kentucky Utilities as it started to cut down trees on a center median on Lansdowne Drive Monday morning.
Dozens of nearby residents gathered at the protest but only Laura Zimmerman, 64, was taken into custody. She was later charged with third-degree criminal trespassing and booked briefly into the Fayette County jail at 12:24 p.m.
When Zimmerman was taken away in a police cruiser, KU proceeded with its planned removal of the crab apple trees underneath a large power line.
When KU crews initially turned on tree-cutting equipment in preparation, several protesters were under a tree on Lansdowne at Tartan Drive. The protesters slowly left the tree-shaded area over time as police threatened arrests.
Zimmerman was arrested roughly 30 minutes after the initial warning from police.
Only three officers were on scene when the protest started, but by the time Zimmerman was arrested, the count of officers present at least doubled.
Many applauded Zimmerman for her actions as she was being taken away. Some had tears in their eyes as crews got to work cutting the trees.
“We will stand here and cry — I can’t even talk about it, I just can’t even talk about it,” said Roberta Erena, who grew up in the neighborhood. “These trees are absolutely gorgeous and they don’t pose a threat, and we will stand here and we will watch them take these trees down.”
KU representative Daniel Lowry said the company plans to go back to Lansdowne Drive next week to replant a compatible species of trees where the crab apples were removed Monday. The company also went back and replanted trees on the Southpoint Drive median previously, where utility crews cut trees last fall.
The Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council has pressed unsuccessfully to get KU to stop clear-cutting trees on private and public property. The utility has argued it has to remove the trees to prevent power outages. Its policy is to cut trees taller than 10 feet under transmission lines, but only in the last few years has the company enforced that in urban areas. Critics have said it’s cheaper for KU to remove rather than trim the trees.
Mayor Linda Gorton issued a statement later Monday voicing her disapproval of KU’s latest removals.
“I am very disappointed by the actions KU has taken today in cutting down trees that in no way threaten transmission lines,” Gorton said in the statement. “This does not reflect the compromise I requested that trees be trimmed rather than cut down or the 30-day moratorium I requested. It also directly contradicts the resolution council passed on Nov. 18.”
The city has very little legal authority over KU and what the utility does in the right-of-way underneath transmission lines. The Public Service Commission and the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office also have no say over KU’s tree-trimming policies.
KU representative Daniel Lowry said the company plans to go back to Lansdowne Drive next week to replant a compatible species of trees where the crab apples were removed Monday. The company also went back and replanted trees on the Southpoint Drive median previously, where utility crews cut trees last fall.
Monday’s cutting was a part of KU’s vegetation management, which has many more projects in the area, according to Lowry. Projects at Lakes Edge and Lakeview Estates have been temporarily paused while KU does an environmental study, according to letters KU sent to Gorton and city leaders on Nov. 23.
The Nov. 23 letter was in response to various demands — including a cutting moratorium — city officials made to KU. The utility giant has paused work at Lakes Edge but tree cutting in other areas will continue, the letter said. The company has agreed to some other measures, including stepping up outreach to affected areas and doing a geological survey to examine sinkholes. City officials and residents have raised concerns that cutting trees can affect stormwater runoff and create more sinkholes in some areas.
“Company data collected over the past six years shows one out of every six outages on the KU transmission system in the Lexington area were likely caused by vegetation-related issues,” the letter said. “We also know that our vegetation management work combined with other ongoing system hardening efforts across the LG&E and KU electric system have reduced the frequency and duration of power outages by 40 percent since 2011.”
KU began the clear-cutting of trees over 10 feet under major transmission lines in 2014. Work did not begin in earnest in urban areas until 2019. The city, neighborhoods and environmentalists have tried in vain to get KU to rethink its tree-cutting policy for more than a year.
The letter was signed by John Crockett III, president of KU and LG&E.
This story was originally published November 29, 2021 at 12:19 PM.
