Tooele » After a marathon and at times emotionally charged public hearing, the Tooele County Planning Commission late Wednesday unanimously slapped down Rocky Mountain Power's application to build a high-voltage line that would ply the Oquirrh Mountain foothills and canyons near this town of 30,000.
The alignment of the proposed Mona-Oquirrh line, which would bring 345 kilovolts to west Salt Lake County, would run through recreation areas and spoil the mountain views south and east of Tooele, said planning commissioner Bill Hogan.
"Rocky Mountain [Power] could have pulled this off if they hadn't planned to go through the most pristine part of the county," he said.
In her motion to deny the utility's application for a conditional use permit, planning commissioner Joyce Clegg said the utility company failed to show it could mitigate potential health threats and impacts on water supplies and property values, among other things.
Beyond that, she said, the project's environmental impact statement had not been completed.
"Our job is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of this county," she said. "For Rocky Mountain Power to say, 'Someday we'll have a plan,' does not meet the burden of persuasion outlined by the Utah Court of Appeals" for permits.
The company can appeal the denial through the Utah Public Service Commission.
As proposed, a 500 kilovolt line would be built from Mona in Juab County to a substation south of the Tooele Army Depot in western Tooele Valley. From there, a 345 kilovolt line would run east, skirting Tooele's south and east city limits, then over the Oquirrh Mountains into southwest Salt Lake Valley, where tremendous growth is expected over the next two decades.
Rocky Mountain Power officials have said Tooele County would benefit from the first major upgrade in its northern Utah grid in 20 years.
Nicole Cline, Tooele County economic development director, told the planning commission that without more electrical capacity, the county cannot further develop an industrial base.
An alternate route favored by a Tooele citizen's group would take the line north from the substation along the west edge of Tooele Valley and then parallel Interstate 80 into Salt Lake County.
But some of the 100 residents who attended told the commission that Tooele shouldn't bear the burden of impacts from a high-voltage line that primarily benefits Salt Lake County.
"This will bring no new power to Tooele County," said Scott Wardle, a Tooele City councilman. "Not in the next 10 years do they have any plan to route power back here."
The municipality has spent millions purchasing open space along the foothills where the proposed line would run, said City Attorney Roger Baker. He hinted at litigation should Rocky Mountain Power build in the area.
"Tooele City keeps that land pristine for a reason -- to protect the water shed and to protect the view shed," he said. "Tooele City will not stand by and watch that investment taken away."
Much of the four-hour meeting centered on health risks for those living near high voltage lines. Michael Bailey, a physician and researcher speaking for Rocky Mountain Power, told the panel there was no conclusive evidence that high-voltage lines cause increases in diseases such as childhood leukemia.
But Jim Webber, a Tooele-area physician, provided the commission with work by another researcher, David Carpenter, that said just the opposite. The National Institutes of Health classify the magnetic field surrounding the lines as a possible carcinogen.
"In my opinion, it's a public-health concern that cannot be mitigated," Webber said.
