"The city's action must not be allowed to unnecessarily delay this project," Moench said in the release. "We have worked in good faith will all cities involved in this project. The city cannot arbitrarily 'deny' a conditional-use permit it previously granted.

"This action jeopardizes economic development in the state and puts reliability at risk for the entire system."

Aguilar said that the question in the city's mind was, "Why did (Rocky Mountain Power) risk this when you knew had this final review hanging out there?"

He said that the city had written to the utility to remind the company of some issues that had yet to be addressed prior to a final city review of the plan, but Rocky Mountain Power failed to respond.

According to the utility's Web site, Rocky Mountain Power's plan is to construct a new 345-kilovolt transmission line from the Populus substation being built near Downey, Idaho, to the existing Ben Lomond substation in Box Elder County — about 90 miles away. The line would pass through Willard, a town of about 1,800 people.

The decision to overturn the conditional-use permit and halt the project was made solely on the "overarching desire to protect the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Willard," Aguilar said.

The utility contends that research scientists and public health officials' prevailing view about concerns about electric and magnetic fields "is that a risk to human health has not been shown."

"The final details that Rocky Mountain Power was willing to present," Aguilar said, "weren't sufficient and it gave the City Council reason to pause."

E-mail: jlee@desnews.com