State Rep. Al Williams, a Democrat from Midway, doesn’t want to take a chance on falling trees causing road fatalities. So he’s introduced a bill that would require the state to cut down every tree that could land on many of Georgia’s major highways.
House Bill 501, which would require the Georgia Department of Transportation to oversee the removal of each tree deemed tall enough to tumble onto interstates and other limited-access highways, won approval Monday from the House Transportation Committee. The House Rules Committee is expected to take up the bill as early as Tuesday.
Opponents criticize the bill as cost-prohibitive and overreaching, as the state already removes at-risk trees. It’s unknown how many trees the measure could affect.
But Williams, who introduced the bill after years of traveling I-16 to the Gold Dome, said he’s just trying to save lives.
Williams noted that a co-sponsor of the bill, Rep. Bob Bryant, D-Garden City, was injured when a tree fell on his vehicle while driving last year, and he also pointed to the recent death of a Georgia man whose car was hit by a tree on I-20. (In that instance, it’s unclear whether that tree was on state property.)
“Why do we allow trees that can fall on the interstate to stay?” he said, noting the state can bid the removal to third parties. “I don’t want to wait for tragedies to happen.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not keep data on wrecks caused by falling trees, a spokeswoman said. State data were not immediately available.
GDOT spokeswoman Natalie Dale said the agency already has a policy for removing dangerous trees.
Dale said the agency is still calculating potential costs of HB 501 and whether a contractor’s retail value of logging can offset the cost of removal. While longer stretches may appeal to private loggers, Dale said the retail value of smaller sections and individual trees will likely not offset the cost of removal.
GDOT Policy Director Josh Waller said during the committee hearing that HB 501’s cost to the state could be in the millions.
Tally Sweat, the legislative chairman with the Garden Club of Georgia, said the bill is unnecessary.
“They can already cut down anything an arborist has certified as dangerous; they don’t need this bill,” Sweat said. “I see this as a chance to have a wholesale slaughter on roadside trees.”
Former state Rep. Elly Dobbs, who testified against the bill, said HB 501 is problematic in that it doesn’t address how the state would fully fund the removal and what effect it would have on erosion control. She believes special interests could be behind the measure.
“It scares me to death,” said Dobbs, who is married to Trees Atlanta President Ed Dobbs. “There is concern this bill is possibly for the benefit of not just the loggers, but for the billboard industry.”
That industry won a huge victory with a 2011 law allowing billboard owners to clear-cut trees blocking the view of their signs.
While Williams has received campaign donations as recently as 2011 from the Outdoor Advertising Association of Georgia, he said this bill has nothing to do with promoting signage.
“I love trees as much as anybody, but I never saw a tree I loved more than a child or adult,” Williams said. “I’ll stand by life.”
The bill won committee approval by a 7-5 vote.
Dobbs is sympathetic to the risk of falling trees, she said, as a tree once fell on her car near West Paces Ferry Road. But she believes the benefits of trees, such as erosion control, energy conservation and improving air quality, outweigh the risk of potential injury as long as the state monitors for problems.
“It’s very tragic and horrible,” Dobbs said, “but sometimes there are acts of God we just can’t protect against.”
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