Scores of people turned up Tuesday evening at a public open house hosted by the Bureau of Land Management regarding Rocky Mountain Power’s proposed Mona-to-Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project. And most of them weren’t happy.

Many of the residents’ chief complaint was that any route that passes along the southeast bench of the Oquirrhs near Tooele is unacceptable — a view shared by Tooele County Commissioners.

Commissioner Jerry Hurst said several people approached him during the open house asking why commissioners were supporting a route that would run on the southeast bench of Tooele. Many were surprised to learn Hurst didn’t support such a route.

“There are a lot of misconceptions out that I’d like to clear up,” Hurst said. “I just want to make it clear that we are not supporting the route that goes on the south end of Tooele because that goes right up the bench and would impact a lot of homes. I’ve met with Rocky Mountain Power three times and every time I’ve talked to them I’ve said, ‘Let’s do what we can to have the least impact on residents. To me, that [southeast bench] route is something that would cause the most impact.”

The 500/345kV transmission line would run from Mona in Juab County to a proposed Limber Substation to be built in the Tooele Valley. From there, two separate lines are proposed to run from the proposed 500/345/138kV Limber Substation to the existing Oquirrh Substation in West Jordan and the existing Terminal Substation in Salt Lake City.

Clara Stevens, realty specialist with the BLM’s Fillmore Field Office and who attended the meeting, said at this point no routes have been eliminated.

“There’s nothing set in stone at this point,” she said. “This is what Rocky Mountain has proposed and it’s just been analyzed and now it’s out for public comment. That’s the whole purpose of the process, so it’s good people come when there’s a concern.”

She added the BLM is aware of residents’ concerns about a southeast bench route.

“But there were also people that didn’t like other routes,” Stevens said. “We have to wait until the entire comment period and then look at them in whole, and then that’s when decisions would be made.”

At this point in time, Hurst said commissioners don’t have a preferred route.

“I think we need to look at all the options and see which one’s going to be the best,” he said. “We don’t have anything in mind right now.”

He added, however, that he remains firmly in favor of the project as a whole, partly because it would spur economic development.

“Tooele County will get the benefit from the increased voltage of the power lines and we have had at least one business specifically that needed more power and we didn’t land that business,” he said.

Commissioner Colleen Johnson is also in favor of the project passing through the Tooele Valley, though she also opposes the southeast bench route.

“Our industrial part of the county needs the power,” she said. “The northwest sector of the county really needs power — all Tooele County needs power — and if we want to continue with economic development and more businesses we need more power available.”

The public comment period on the draft Environmental Impact Statement is ongoing until Aug. 12. Submit comments via the following: E-mail at UT_M2OTL_EIS@blm.gov, fax to 801-977-4397 or 435-743-3135, or mail to Mike Nelson, BLM Salt Lake Field Office, 2370 South 2300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84119 or Clara Stevens, BLM Fillmore Field Office, 35 East 500 North, Fillmore, UT 84631. For more information, visit http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/salt_lake/planning/mona_to_oquirrh_transmission.html.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com