Judges: Utility poles don't threaten clean water

April 5, 2013 | By Travis Mitchell

Federal judges yesterday upheld an earlier court ruling protecting utility poles from potential environmental regulation.

The ruling by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit filed by the Ecological Rights Foundation (ERF) arguing that utility poles discharge wood preservatives and are in violation of the EPA Clean Water Act. The complaints date back to 2009, but the case was dismissed previously due to what judges viewed as a lack of proof by ERF about the harmful effects of the utility poles.

The lawsuit focused on Pacific Gas & Electric and Pacific Bell Telephone Company, which treat their poles with wood preservatives.

The 2011 ERF complaint alleged that, "Over time, this oil-wood treatment mixture leaks out of each pole into or onto whatever surface the pole contacts. This oil-wood treatment mixture also oozes to the surface of that part of the pole that is above ground, and then itself drips, or is washed off the pole by rainwater."

But the ruling judges wrote that ERF did not have a solid claim under the Clean Water Act, since utility poles are neither a "point source discharge" nor "associated with industrial activity."

Regulating utility poles would likely be a cumbersome, time-consuming task. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association estimates there are about 37 million utility poles across the United States.

For more:
-see the ruling
-see the complaint
-see this article

http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/judges-utility-poles-dont-threaten-clean-water/2013-04-05