PROVO — A power plant in Vineyard is clearly in the public's best interest, but the route of the proposed natural gas line to fuel the plant remains a cloudy issue, Utah County commissioners said.
For the second time in three weeks, commissioners Tuesday declined to take action on an ordinance that would amend the county's general plan and approve a conditional-use permit for Questar Gas to run a 20-inch natural gas transmission pipeline between Lehi and the Lake Side power plant.
The proposed route crosses into an agricultural/residential zone of unincorporated Utah County, and a handful of property owners who farm the land are worried about potential damage to their crops.
The commission decided to continue the matter for one week to consider placing additional conditions on Questar to help ease landowners' concerns.
The proposed route of the gas line follows the existing Utah Power electrical line easement from the intersection of 8730 West and 8170 North in Lehi and southeast to the plant.
Construction already is under way on the $300 million Lake Side power plant, which will occupy about 60 acres in a northern corner of the former Geneva Steel property.
The plant is scheduled to begin delivering electrical power to homes and businesses throughout Utah Valley in November 2007.
In order to meet that deadline, Questar officials said the 7.9 miles of new gas pipeline need to be in place by November of this year, meaning construction must begin no later than July.
The existing gas pipelines are not sufficient to fuel the power plant, officials said.
After evaluating several possible routes for the gas line, the Utah Power easement was selected in part because it had the least amount of negative impact to landowners, said David Ingleby, supervisor and project manager for Questar.
"This is the best possible route," Ingleby said. "The pipeline crosses property already incumbered by power line easements."
Utah Power, a PacifiCorp company, has an easement of about 190 feet in width, he said. The gas pipeline requires a 75-foot-wide construction easement and a permanent easement of 50 feet.
White said he'd he prefer that the gas line run along a proposed alternative for the Mountain View Corridor, a suggestion made by Utah County Public Works Director Clyde Naylor.
The commission is expected to vote on the issue next week.
Landowners have expressed concern with the gas line, citing problems since the late 1970s after a sewer line was put down. Some crops have never fully recovered, the landowners said, because the natural drainage was disturbed.
"You're talking about farmable land that's near the lake with a high water table," said Lee Thomson, whose mother, Irene, is one of a handful of property owners who haven't reached a right of way agreement with Questar. "Drainage is entirely the basis of what can go on on that property."
Andreas Kammereck, a water resource engineer with Golder Associates in Redmond, Wash., and technical consultant for Questar, told the commissioners that the gas line is different from the sewer line and would not create such problems.
The gas line is a pressurized system and isn't governed by changes in ground elevation and topography, Kammereck said. The pipe would be 5 feet deep and follow the ground topography, keeping it consistent with existing draining conditions, he said.
Sewer lines are governed by the slope of the pipe so the depth of burial can vary quite a bit, Kammereck said.
"Questar has gone to great lengths to make sure there are engineering mitigation measures incorporated into the design to maintain those drainage features," he said.
But landowners aren't convinced.
"There's just no guarantee," Thompson said.
Ingleby said Questar has reached right of way agreements with all but three of the landowners, who have refused to meet with Questar representatives, he said.
"Landowners who have not settled with Questar will be compensated for the easement as determined by the courts," he said.
Ingleby said property owners who negotiated rights of way with Questar will be compensated for any future damages that result from burial of the gas line.
"If the farmer is consistently down 30 percent or 70 percent, we are obligated under the right of way agreement to compensate them for that," Ingleby said. "We're confident that, with the measures we're taking, that won't be the case."
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