Tooele County’s top economic development official says lack of power and water are hindering the county’s ability to attract new industrial businesses.

“I am often asked what things would be on my wish list to improve economic development,” said Nicole Cline, Tooele County director of economic development. “My answer is always the same: water and power.”

Cline said the county has lost out on recruiting some manufacturers, including a food processing plant, because of lack of water.

“There have been companies that need large amounts of water that have looked at us but went elsewhere because there just isn’t enough water for them,” Cline said. “Now we don’t go after companies if we know they need a lot of water. Especially if after they use that water it will be hard to make it fit for reuse because of contamination.”

But while economic development officials can’t do anything about scarce groundwater resources in a desert environment, power needs are another story.

“Power, on the other hand, is different,” Cline said. “We can bring more power into the county — for a price.”

The debate over local power needs has come to the fore recently with Rocky Mountain Power’s bid to build high-voltage transmission lines through the Tooele Valley. RMP has claimed the lines will provide additional power to the valley, while opponents of the project have claimed it will mainly benefit the Wasatch Front.

Currently throughout the county there is a maximum of 2 megawatts of electricity available, according to Cline.

“Currently we have a manufacturing project that is looking at Tooele County. They will employ 1,000 people at an average wage of $36,000 a year,” Cline said. “But they need 100 megawatts of power.”

Cline said she is also working with another business that wants to build a data center in Tooele County. They would create about 100 jobs. However, they need 5 megawatts of power.

“They both need redundancy of power — power from two different lines to maintain clean power and reduce the chance of outages,” Cline said. “We don’t have that in Tooele now.”

One of the advantages of the Oquirrh-to-Mona line passing through Tooele County is the possibility of a substation that can bring more power to Tooele, according to Cline. The substation was originally part of RMP’s initial plan but will now not be included in initial construction phases.

“More power, clean power, redundant power is a key to attracting top-end manufacturers and high-tech facilities that employ more people and pay better wages,” Cline said. “If we don’t get more power soon, these opportunities may go elsewhere.”

She added that additional power is a quality-of-life issue as much as an economic development issue.

“Ultimately we would like people living in Tooele County to be able to work at a job in Tooele that will provide for their family while having opportunities for advancement,” Cline said. “Leaving the county for work should be a choice, not a requirement.”

Tim Gillie: tgillie@tooeletranscript.com