Environment study on Tooele power line proposals available

TOOELE COUNTY — Two weeks before a state-mediated hearing between Tooele County and Rocky Mountain Power, the Bureau of Land Management released a nearly 800-page Environmental Impact Study concerning high-power electric lines that will weave through Tooele, Utah and Juab counties.

Listed in two volumes, the environmental study and Proposed Pony Express Resource Management Plan Amendment for the Mona to Oquirrh Transmission Corridor is now up for a 30-day protest period.

The massive document lists how the three lines would impact air, water, vegetation, wildlife, cultural and recreation land and hazardous materials.

To meet increasing power demands, Rocky Mountain Power wants to build three major power lines and two substations. The first 69-mile long, single-circuit, 500-kilovolt line would extend from Mona to a proposed Limber Substation in Tooele Valley. From there, two double-circuit 354-kilovolt lines would extend through Tooele County, one 31 miles long to the Oquirrh substation in West Jordan, and a second 45 miles long to the Terminal Substation in Salt Lake.

The BLM lists 14 route alternatives. The environmentally preferred alternative only deviates 31 miles from RMP's route.

Tooele residents have aggressively protested the plan. The county commission and planning commission both denied RMP's application for a conditional-use permit to build the lines in March. Hearings for the matter drew large crowds, citing health concerns, proximity to homes, damage to the rural environment and potential seepage into the culinary water supply.

The state's Utility Facility Review Board will render the final decision after a three-day hearing May 10-12.

The final BLM study was prepared using public comments regarding a draft study created earlier this year.

The protest period ends on Tuesday, May 25. To view the study and instructions on the protest procedure, visit the BLM project website at: www.blm.gov.

Following the protest period and the Governor's Consistency Review, the BLM will issue a Record of Decision identifying the selected alternative and mitigation measures.

e-mail: astowell@desnews.com