Emerald Ash Borer And Power Outages

Dayton Power and Light has somebody to blame for last week's power outages:

On Thursday, DP&L announced power had been restored Wednesday night to the last few customers affected by the storm, but said the cause of many of the outages remains.
Ash trees infected by the Emerald Ash Borer, which has spread to 63 Ohio counties, are being singled out as the biggest problem.
“Ash trees damaged by the insects become unstable and may fall at any time, posing a danger to people, property and power lines,” said the electric provider, in a statement. “While there may be an expense for property owners to remove the damaged trees, the potential for injuries, death and damage to property is far worse.”
DP&L trims tree limbs in its “right of way” year-round to prevent power outages. The company touts that it has trimmed along 10,000 miles of its power lines since 2008.

While I will be the first to admit that damage from the Emerald Ash Borer is real, I think this is a little bit of a stretch. While  I've seen quite a few ash trees which are dead or dying because of the Ash Borer infestation, healthy ash trees are much more prone to splitting than most other hardwood trees.  I've also seen a lot more limbs coming out of other hardwood species which appear to be healthy.  If I were to assign blame, I would guess that expected levels of return to investors (cost cutting) and deregulation of the electric generation and distribution markets play an under appreciated role.  DP&L also makes a point of emphasizing how often much tree trimming they do.  Does somebody want to distract people from something they might be slacking on?  I might say yes