Rocky Mountain Power is moving ahead with plans to construct a high-voltage transmission line through Tooele County, despite continued opposition to the proposed route.

The company has submitted an application for a conditional use permit for its Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor Project to Tooele County. There will be a public hearing on the application at the Tooele County Planning Commission’s meeting on Feb. 3.

The permit is being sought for a transmission line to run from Mona in Juab County through Tooele County and on to the Oquirrh Substation in Salt Lake County. At this time, RMP is not seeking a conditional use permit for a proposed substation at the southwest end of the Tooele Valley or for the section of transmission line between that substation and an existing substation near the airport in Salt Lake City, though both remain part of the company’s future plans.

“The timing on that portion of the project is going to be determined upon the growth in terms of electricity use and the demand for our product,” said Martie Leo, customer and community manager for RMP.

Because conditional use permits must be acted upon within a year, with the option of petitioning for a six-month extension, Leo said it wouldn’t make sense to request permitting for the substation at this time.

Though a final environmental impact statement on the power project isn’t anticipated for release by the Bureau of Land Management until spring, RMP filed for the conditional use permit in advance of those findings to keep the project on track for a 2013 in-service date, according to company spokeswoman Margaret Oler.

“Because the timeline for this project is very complicated and very lengthy, there are times when multiple activities are progressing at the same time,” she said. “This conditional use process is one of those that takes place in parallel with the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process. The timing for this is to time it so that the conditional use permits are applied for at the right time so that the permits can be obtained at roughly the same time that the NEPA process is concluded.”

She added that when company officials see the final environmental impact statement, they can request adjustments and amendments to the permit.

According to Cindy Ledbetter, NEPA planning coordinator with the Salt Lake Field Office of the BLM, the final environmental impact statement could be available by March or April, with a final decision on the project made by this summer.

The conditional use permit application also defines Rocky Mountain Power’s preferred route for the project. Upon entering Tooele County at the border of Utah County at Twelve Mile Pass, the transmission line would turn northwest to the Tooele Army Depot, run eastward into the Tooele Valley, run south of Tooele, across Middle Canyon, and cross the Oquirrh Mountains before moving into Salt Lake County.

That route has been opposed by local officials and citizen groups.

Tooele City Mayor Patrick Dunlavy said the city has put together a written protest against the conditional use permit to be given to county planning commission members. In addition, he said city officials will attend the meeting on Feb. 3 to voice their objections.

Dunlavy said he has never been against Rocky Mountain Power establishing service lines to provide electricity, but objects to the route the company has chosen.

“It’s a big line coming from Mona to the Salt Lake Valley, which indirectly at some point will provide additional power to Tooele County, but as of right now it’ll just provide additional power to the Salt Lake Valley,” he said. “We met with them over and over again trying to come up with an alternative route. We have a consensus letter of all governing bodies in the county, plus citizens groups in Tooele and Grantsville. We believe, as do others in the county, that they [RMP] can accomplish the same thing without creating the situation on the east bench.”

Kaye Pratt, who was instrumental in the formation of the Tooele City Concerned Citizen’s Group against the southeast bench route, said, “The conditional use permit for this route that they’ve chosen is the worst. This is unacceptable, especially when we’re willing to let them have a line somewhere. There’s not another route that has as much against it as this one.”

A petition the group has circulated has garnered 4,000 signatures opposing the southeast bench route.

Leo said RMP officials have met with the citizens groups and were unable to find a better alternative that met all of the company’s siting criteria.

“On the preferred route, the biggest concern is that southeast bench corner,” Leo said. “That line has been moved about a quarter of a mile farther to the east so it is farther away from the residences. That is one significant change, but there are a host of others that have been made in this process. So what we started out with when the public meetings were held has been changed.”

Pratt believes adjusting the line slightly has not solved the problem.

“That’s worse,” she said. “That’s farther up the mountain. This is the mostly highly populated area in all of Tooele County. Further up the mountain is more destructive of nature.”

Oler said public comments have been collected throughout this process and used to make refinements to the route, including in Tooele, Salt Lake and Utah counties.

“Of the 25 route refinements that have been made, 16 have been made in Tooele County,” she said.

Leo said the project will still benefit Tooele despite the fact that a Tooele Valley substation is not part of the company’s immediate plans.

“Tooele County is fed by two major transmission substations, the Oquirrh Substation and the Terminal Substation,” she said. “This line being built through Tooele will connect with the Oquirrh Substation, providing transmission feed into that station.”

However, Pratt doesn’t believe that’s the case.

“If you don’t increase the size of the distribution lines from Oquirrh or create another line, which they are not doing, you still can only carry the same amount of power as before,” she said.

In addition to residents’ concerns about public safety issues, increased fire risks, visual blight on Tooele’s open hillsides, potential health impacts, and reduced property values, Pratt said she’s concerned the use of herbicides to stop vegetation from growing around the power line structures could seep into water sources and cause contamination.

“There’s nothing the county could do to mitigate the damage that the lines would do. There’s nothing you can do to replace the face of a mountain that’s been destroyed — the scrub oak, the vegetation, the impact on the culinary water, the reservoirs,” she said. “This is the most detrimental route that Rocky Mountain Power could ask for. It’s for them, not for us.”

She added, “We presumed that Rocky Mountain Power was waiting for the BLM to process the information and wait for the final EIS, however they are proceeding just as we should have known, always premature.”

Pratt urges the public to submit written comments to the county planning commission and be in attendance at the Feb. 3 meeting at 7 p.m.

“This is a crucial turning point and we are at a crossroads right now. Where this takes us dictates our next step and what we can do,” she said. “They’re not going to stop us. They think they can and they’re trying to wear us down, but we’re still there ready to fight.”

Tooele County Planner Kerry Beutler said the public can submit written comments to his office and can make verbal comments throughout the process and at the public hearing.

Sarah Miley: swest@tooeletranscript.com