Dozens of contractors will likely be hired to complete the big job.

The trees, which Progress Energy once only pruned, will be cut down. Maples, pines, cedars and oaks that shade homes and provide character for the established, decades-old neighborhood will be chipped and hauled away.

“They’ve shown a total disregard for people who live under the power lines,” said Judy Austin, who has rallied neighbors in the Meredith Woods subdivision against the plan.

Progress Energy representatives say they have no choice. A new federal rule ?EUR??,,????'??+ spurred by the big 2003 blackout ?EUR??,,????'??+ levies stiff fines for any power outage caused by trees and vegetation along transmission lines.

Trees sagging onto transmission lines started the chain reaction that left 50 million customers without power across the Northeast, Great Lakes region and Canada in August 2003. The estimated economic effect was $6 billion, according to the federal government.

Other utility companies face the same mandates.

Trees, said Ed Legge, a spokesman for the Edison Electric Institute, a Washington trade group for the power industry, are one of the industry’s biggest dilemmas.

Homeowners first heard about plans to cut down trees in July when crews came through to look at trees. Crews returned a couple of weeks ago, placing bright orange-red tape around trees that they say must go.

Source: (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer