It sounds like you're complaining that these utilities aren't able to bring these lines up to modern standards because it's necessary to actually check to see what needs to be done to bring them up to modern standards (e.g. environmental review).

If you think a company would happily spend money on lines they aren't using just in case they need to use them in the future but they're prevented from doing so due to onerous regulation, you're definitely not familiar with privatized utilities. These companies won't spend a dime on these lines until the last possible second, at which point they'll complain about how much work they need to do as a result of leaving things until the last possible second.