Rocky Mountain Power outlines 345 kV Spanish Fork–Mercer line; city and residents raise routing, access and visual-impact questions

Rocky Mountain Power presented its siting, routing and permitting plan on July 1 for a proposed 345-kilovolt transmission line running roughly 48 miles from the Spanish Fork substation to the Mercer substation south of Eagle Mountain. The utility and its consultants described a preferred teal-colored route and said they had already held five open houses and a virtual session to gather public input.

The project, Rita Reuterman, a consultant with Power Engineers, told the Spanish Fork City Council, would use single-steel monopole structures about 90 to 135 feet tall and a 125-foot easement (62.5 feet on either side of the pole center). Reuterman and Tammy Moody, Rocky Mountain Power’s principal project manager for regulatory permitting and public outreach, said the route evolved after fieldwork, conversations with jurisdictions and landowners and feasibility work.

“Unless it’s a safety issue, we really can’t do much,” Councilman Took paraphrased a…