The Lafayette City Council, at a special meeting held today, has decided to sue the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for failing to uphold a Tree Removal Agreement the utility signed in 2017.
On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the City of Lafayette was informed by a representative of PG&E that the utility intended to begin to remove some 17 trees on East Bay Regional Park District property within the City of Lafayette. The utility indicated that the tree cutting could begin as early as Monday, November 16, 2020, along the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail and in the open space north of downtown Lafayette. PG&E anticipated that the tree removal work would take approximately three weeks to complete.
PG&E entered into a Tree Removal Agreement on January 23, 2017 with the City of Lafayette that stipulates the utility cannot cut or remove trees within Lafayette until all obligations in the agreement have been met. PG&E has not met its obligations under the agreement to “provide all information required by the City’s Tree Protection Regulations.” As such, the City Council has decided to move forward with a lawsuit to prevent PG&E from cutting or removing trees within Lafayette until such time as the utility meets its obligations under the 2017 Tree Removal Agreement.
The lawsuit will be filed tomorrow, Friday, November 13, 2020, in Bankruptcy Court, in the Northern District of California.
You can read the City of Lafayette and PG&E Tree Removal Agreement here: https://www.lovelafayette.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=6389
Who do we sue when the trees that would have been cut down fall down in a wind storm, say, and cause a powers OUTAGE and, or, a fire? Maybe it’s time we let PG&E do their job.
We would sue the city I suppose. Most of the trees they want to remove is to work on the gas line, so really it will be an explosion that will cause the lawsuits, sadly.
Is this lawsuit substantive? Or minutia?
Last I noticed, Lamorinda is flush w trees… indeed, rarely do I see substantive thinning, fire prevention or fire breaks established.
My tree has lost a limb and is in dire jeopardy. The crows are all a’flutter. Is there a lawyer in the house? Why…yes…I am at your beck and call. Please make a good faith deposit on your future tax revenues, and I’ll sue the sh*t out of those tree hooligans.
We can’t save the rain forest, but damn straight those are sorta kinda our trees! And, I, fill in the blank, will make them pay dearly.
Pssst. May I suggest, free of charge… plant your own damn trees. All they need is water and sun. These EBRPD trees are not your trees.