Ruby Pipeline spokesman Dan Gredvig said the 680-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline proposed by the Colorado Springs-based El Paso Corp. will link natural gas production in the Rocky Mountain area to consumption in the West.

The $2 billion Ruby Pipeline would start in Wyoming, near Woodruff, Utah, and wind through a portion of the Cache National Forest before crossing the Wasatch Front north of Brigham City. It would pass near Bear River City and Thatcher, traversing north of the Great Salt Lake before entering Nevada and ending in Malin, Ore. Also proposed are four new compressor stations, including one in western Utah, Gredvig said.

"We [El Paso] operate about 43,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline and we do that in a safe, dependable and efficient manner," he said.

A key to pipeline safety is "optimum location," Gredvig said.

But critics said location is the proposal's major flaw, followed closely by a lack of information. Frank Bacheller said Ruby's first proposal, to bury the pipeline along an established public utility corridor in central Idaho, was preferable.

"Once a right-of-way gets established through Avon, others will come through," Bacheller said. "There is not sufficient information for people."

Logan resident Val Grant, spokesman for the Little Bear River Alliance, said explanations for Ruby's route change have been insufficient. Current maps of the pipeline's path through Cache Valley are vague, the route is shifting without explanation and environmental data provided by Ruby officials is skewed, Grant said.

"We request the [Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] to please direct Ruby to truly evaluate [the proposed route] so that . . . concerned citizens of Cache Valley can make a decision based on fact and not based on Ruby's interpretation of what we should know," Grant said.

The El Paso Corp. will apply to FERC in January for a license to proceed with an anticipated completion date of 2011.

abrunson@sltrib.com