Aggressive DTE tree removal ruining landscape says Bloomfield Twp resident

BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - A massive ice storm brought down power lines across the state last winter, knocking out power to 600,000 DTE Energy customers.

The utility company said that trees were to blame and now it is aggressively chopping them down.

In Bloomfield Township, some residents say it is ruining the landscape and that the utility is taking extreme measures, doing it without notice.

Resident Inge Gray called DTE and told them to stop cutting down her trees before the buzzsaws ceased.

"(They) make no apologies for any of the cutting and would actually have preferred to do more cutting than what was done," she said.

DTE says this work is done all the time for good reason.

"This program is something we do every single day because it's the right thing to do to assure reliable electric power for our customers," said Trevor Lauer, senior vice president, DTE Energy.

After last year's ice storm, the state's public service commission wants DTE to be more aggressive in removing trees near power lines.

"About half of the outages that we have on the electrical system come from trees," Lauer said. "And the number one goal of removing trees is to reduce the number of outages."

Living in a wooded area, Gray has dealt with this before and expects some clearing to keep the lights on.

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Aggressive DTE tree removal ruining landscape says Bloomfield Twp resident