Public Shade Tree Trust Gets Worldwide Attention

The news outlets have picked up the story of the Civil Action Center’s new Public Shade Tree Trust. The Trust is both a major innovation in the handling of potential claims and the resolution of cases like the destruction of our urban forests from gas asphyxiation.  See the March 24th entry below to get more information on the over 200 news organizations across the country and the world which have run with this story.

While the Gas Industry is quoted as saying this is a “minor problem” and “they won’t find much”, we have internal company documents that show that the existing gas leaks number in the tens of thousands in Massachusetts alone and many of these share the same space along the public ways as the trees. This data indicates that the number of leaks nationwide are in the hundreds of thousands – hundreds of thousands of leaks that every day are poisoning the soils and seeping into the atmosphere destroying our urban forests and contributing to Global Warming not to mention posing a long term potential risk to public health and safety.

The Public Shade Tree Trust offers a comprehensive program under a Court approved and supervised Trust to address this large scale problem. The Towns and Cities who join as Beneficiaries receive, at no cost to them :

- A full audit of their community, by an experienced team of gas leak specialists who will determine the nature and extent of the gas leaks affecting the communities’ public shade trees;

- A complete audit by expert landscape appraisers and arborists who are leaders in their field who will determine the full extent of the monetary loss and replacement cost associated with the damage done to the community’s shade trees;

- A legal and professional team who will ensure that the leaks identified are repaired, by those responsible, in an appropriate, timely, and effective manner and that fair and equitable compensation is paid for past damage;

- Up to date training of the community’s personnel who are responsible for protecting the urban forest concerning the best methods to detect and remedy gas leaks before they do damage.

The costs, fees, and expenses for these services are paid only as a percentage (40%) from any successful recovery obtained with the balance being paid to the community.

This is a significant and timely story about an important and unique approach to a widespread environmental problem that cities and towns, and the public, need to know more about. We will be sharing that information here on my Blawg™, and also at The Civil Action Center. Make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed so you can stay up to date on this as we move forward.

If you want more information or how your community can benefit from this exciting program contact me at Civil Action Center.

Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and his innovative Public Shade Tree Trust were featured this week in over 200 media and news publications and outlets across the country and around the world. The groundbreaking project to help towns and cities protect the urban forest from the poisoning caused by leaks from our aging natural gas pipeline network can be reviewed by going to google.com and selecting “News” and putting in “gas leaks and shade trees” or “Schlichtmann”.

As of this date the following major media organizations have reported on this unique and pioneering project to protect our environment and health, Fox News, CBS, ABC, Washington Post, Newsday, Forbes, International Herald Tribune, Business Week, Houston Chronicle, The Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe and the Denver Post. There are currently over 200 different media outlets running the story.

The featured video on Channel 5 in Boston is available by clicking here.

Another featured story on CBS Channel 4 in Boston is available by clicking here.

If you want to learn more about the Civil Action Center, The Shade Tree Trust or Attorney Schlichtmann just subscribe to our RSS feed for the Shade Tree Trust Blog by clicking here and you can stay up to date on all the news, stories and progress this unique approach makes as it attempts to assist cities and towns, and their citizens, in identifying trees damaged by natural gas leaks and then working to save or replace them.

This original AP story is an excellent summary of how the Shade Tree trust was conceived of and put into effect by noted Civil Action Attorney Jan Schlichtmann and gas leak expert Bob Ackley while they were working on the horrific Danversport gas explosion that occurred in November of 2006 in Danversport MA. In their discussions on that case Ackley, one of the nations leading experts on natural gas leaks mentioned to Attorney Schlichtmann that slow, non-lethal gas leaks were one of the major causes of death of some of the old growth and stately trees that line the streets and avenues of most New England cities and towns. Their talks led to the creation of the Shade Tree Trust, and it’s approach of working with municipalities all over the region to first identify leaks and then determine if they were responsible for the death or decline of a major shade tree.