A high voltage transmission line that could cut through the Tooele Valley is being opposed by residents afraid of negative health and environmental impacts as well as decreasing property values.

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of compiling an environmental impact statement for Rocky Mountain Power’s right-of-way application for a double circuit 500/345 kilovolt transmission line. The line would run north from the Mona Substation in Juab County to the Oquirrh Substation in West Jordan. In addition, the line would connect with the Terminal Substation in Salt Lake City.

Initial areas included in the analysis area include parts of Juab, Utah, Salt Lake and Tooele counties, including the communities of Grantsville, Stockton and Tooele. Several routes are currently under consideration.

Margaret Oler, spokeswoman for Rocky Mountain Power, said the need for this transmission line stems from the increasing needs of customers in northern Utah.

“We need to bring an increased amount of electricity into the area,” she said. “Another issue — which is not as visible to the eye as growth in homes and businesses — is individual customers are using 26 percent more electricity today than 20 years ago.”

BLM officials say the project will also benefit Tooele Valley customers.

“Part of the design for the project is to provide additional power source to the Tooele Valley for future growth and for industry,” said Mike Nelson, assistant field manager at the BLM’s Salt Lake Field Office.

However, local residents worried about power lines in their back yards are opposing the project.

Tooele resident Brad Pratt recently received a letter dated Oct. 22 from Rocky Mountain Power asking for permission to enter his property on Deer Hollow Road for soil sampling.

Pratt said he isn’t going to give that permission, and in fact, if the location of the transmission line ends up cutting through his property, he plans to fight it, in court if necessary.

The letter was part of a Rocky Mountain Power mass mailing to 2,700 property owners along possible 2-mile-wide route corridors, Oler said, adding that not every property owner who received a letter will be approached for sampling.

The letter states: “Permission to enter your property for survey and information gathering does not mean that you consent to a future easement or that a power transmission line would even be constructed on your property.”

Pratt’s wife Kaye said she’s concerned about health impacts and visual blight.

“How does that high voltage affect health?” she said. “And how will it change the appearance of the community?”

Brad feels the transmission line should go through a non-populated area, and will only lower property values if it passes through a residential neighborhood.

“I feel like there are enough non-residential areas the power company could run power lines through without affecting existing subdivisions,” he said.

Gidget Webber, who lives near the Pratts and also received a letter, said besides being concerned about health and aesthetic impacts, she worries about what will happen if she gives Rocky Mountain Power permission to conduct soil samples on her property.

“Mainly my concern was them coming on my property and just creating havoc and leaving a mess for us to clean up,” she said, adding while she’s grateful for power she doesn’t want power lines near her home.

Anne Smith, who owns two parcels of property near Settlement Canyon Reservoir, said she received two letters concerning soil samples for her properties. She said while she’s not happy that the proposed transmission line has the potential to slice through her property, she doesn’t think there’s much she can do about it.

“I’m not going to fight Rocky Mountain Power,” she said. “They’re bigger than me.”

She added she’s been through eminent domain battles before and hasn’t come out the winner.

Oler said every application is different, which is why a large number of potential corridors and routes are studied.

“We do exhaustive studies and balance all of the criteria,” she said. “We don’t go out looking for one thing in preference. We look at all the study information and all of the conditions before we settle on a preferred route.”

According to the BLM, the draft of the EIS will be complete at the end of January or first part of February of next year.

“When the draft is published it’ll have a number of alternatives,” Nelson said. “The decision on which route is selected will come at a later point, after the draft has been out.”

There will be a 60-day public comment period once the draft EIS is out.

“At the end of that process and the final EIS, then the BLM will select a preferred route,” Nelson said. “It’s probably not going to happen until later in the year.”

Construction would begin in 2010 and last until 2012.

For more information on the project, visit http://www.blm.gov/ut/st/en/fo/salt_lake/planning/mona_to_oquirrh_transmission.html.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com