A Butte County Superior Court Judge has cleared the way for Pacific Gas and Electric to cut down the remaining nine Sycamore trees along Feather River Boulevard near Oroville Cemetery.
According to the Chico Enterprise-Record, Judge Stephen Benson also ruled protesters needed to stay at least 30 feet away from the site. A request by the group Save Oroville Trees to stay a restraining order that had been in place was denied.
PG&E began removing four trees Monday, and several protesters were removed by police.
PG&E has already cleared 240 trees in Oroville as part of a program that aims to eliminate the risk of disasters like the 2010 gas line explosion in San Bruno. Save Oroville Trees maintains that the company has not shown that the trees present a threat to the nearby pipeline.