Utility Poles - Information And Resources

Pacific is a vertically integrated manufacturer of carbon-neutral, renewable woodenutility poles.  Douglas fir and Cedar Trees are harvested and peeled in the Pacific Northwest, Canada and California and air-seasoned or kiln-dried at one of our production facilities in Oregon, Nevada or Arizona. 

Pacific produces CuNap and Penta transmission and distribution poles at its Oregon and Nevada facilities.  Creosote treated utility poles are produced at its Arizona facility.  CCA and ACQ treated poles are also available.

While comprehensive technical knowledge and experience is a cornerstone of the PWP commitment, we also know that it is equally important that our relationship be built upon trust, truth and total understanding of your individual company’s requirements, needs and wants.  Sophisticated buyers don’t want to be “sold,” but would rather be presented with accurate, verifiable information that is useful, fundamental and relevant.

The formula to producing long-lasting, clean and reliable transmission and distribution poles is as follows:

• Start with high quality raw materials, properly stored and monitored to prevent decay (Coastal Douglas Fir, Cedar, Pinus Sylvestris are good pole species, depending upon your application).
• Ensure poles are properly sterilized, and are treated soon after sterilization.  PWP’s sterilization protocols have been designed by a PhD wood technologist, and certified by third party inspection.  Nobody does sterilization better than PWP, and it is a key reason we have yet to have a pole fail.
• Make sure you specify the appropriate framing and treatment for the application and geographic deterioration zone.
• Choose a quality treater that exceeds industry standards with a proven track record.  Are you having bleeders?  If so, it’s not the chemical or the weather.  It’s your treater.  Call us, and we’ll tell you how you can have clean, environmentally acceptable and durable treated wood poles.
• Be suspicious of treaters who discredit third party inspection, blaming either cost or effectiveness.  They may be afraid of the added supervision.
• Ask to see your treater’s paperwork.  A superior treater will have detailed records regarding their work solutions, penetration, retention and sterilization results.
• Utilize a treater who understands and utilizes initial air.
• Make sure your treater is following BMP’s (Best Management Practices), which means more time-consuming processes including initial air, expansion bath and sufficient final vacuum.
• Inspect through-boring test cores to make sure poles have sufficient wood preservative in the critical groundline area.

Environmental Values:

We are committed to providing a safe and sustainable operation for our employees, our communities and the environment.  This commitment to environmental stewardship is hard and serious work, and should (and is for us) more than “catch-phrases.”  First, our mantra is “100% compliance 100% of the time” which embodies our PWP safety and environmental culture.  We have also conducted energy audits at each of our facilities; have been awarded the US Department of Energy “Energy Champion Plant” (at our NWP plant); were awarded the first annual Bakersfield Pollution Prevention Award (2001); and can provide you with verifiable documentation that documents the superior environmental performance of treated wood utility poles over alternatives, such as steel, concrete or fiberglass (please ask for a copy of the Treated Wood Council’s Lifecycle Analysis of treated wood poles which have been peer-reviewed and published).  When Mother Nature “manufactures” wood poles, she absorbs carbon dioxide and emits oxygen.  It is difficult to get more sustainable than this!

Why Choose Wood Utility Poles?

We know that you have a choice when deciding how to build your distribution and transmission lines.  Alternative products such as steel, concrete and fiberglass have been around for a long time.  But there are reasons why wood telephone poles and other utility poles remain by far the most popular choice of most utilities:

• Lowest cost. An EDM study concluded that treated wood poles are the most-cost effective material.
• Longer-lasting.  Well-treated and maintained poles can last 75 years or longer (Andy Stewart, et. al.)
• Wood poles outperform steel in high alkaline soils.
• Easier and more cost-effective to unload and store.
• Less conductive.
• Natural flexibility, translating into better performance in wind and ice storms.
• In-service modification ease, as you don’t need to remove the pole from service to reframe, re-drill or make hardware changes.
• Non-corrosive when properly produced without biodiesel in the carrier (PWP never utilizes biodiesel in the production of its treated wood poles).

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