Valley Electric Association faces another regulatory hurdle in building a new transmission line around Mount Sterling.

Nellis Air Force Base officials are imposing a 75 foot height restriction on the line tying in to the Nevada Power grid near Indian Springs, VEA Manager of Operations and Engineering Robby Hamlin reported at the monthly VEA board of directors meeting Wednesday.

The 230-kV line will ensure backup capacity, according to the cooperative's infrastructure plan. Pahrump and Sandy Valley residents endured an over 12-hour power blackout Jan. 13 after vandals shot out the 230-kV line between Goodsprings and Sandy Valley. A 138-kV backup line wasn't enough to meet the demand.

The news came at the 11th hour, as Valley Electric officials already had a draft right-of-way agreement in hand with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Hamlin said.

"BLM has told us flat out until the Air Force signs off on what we want to put in there they won't sign off on our right-of-way permit," he said.

The Las Vegas BLM office has the authority to grant a right-of-way with a 100-foot height, but they won't do it, Hamlin said. Valley Electric doesn't agree to the 75 foot restriction, he added.

Nellis Air Force Base spokesman Mike Estrada said power lines above 100 feet height put pilots at risk. He said recently a pilot at Fallon Naval Air Station became entangled in power lines.

"They (VEA) had initially proposed 120-foot poles and that's about 20 feet above the height that we fly out there. We asked them to more or less put them in at the same height as the existing poles which is 75 feet," Estrada said. "Part of the reason they want 120 feet is eventually they want to put a bigger feed on the power poles."

Power lines that carry a lot of weight have the potential to sag, Estrada said.

"If they go up above 100 feet they run a huge risk of one of our guys getting caught up in the line," he said.

Valley Electric Association Director Bob Hartman suggested talking to state or federal officials and "dot every i, cross every t" if necessary to get through the regulatory hurdles.

Valley Electric had expectations the new line from the Vista substation in northern Pahrump to the Nevada Power grid would be operational by mid 2008.

Valley Electric is also constructing a 138-kV loop line around the western end of Pahrump, from the new Charleston Park substation to the Vista substation.

If necessary, Hamlin said the right-of-way for the new Mount Sterling power line would be wide enough for the traditional H-frame transmission line poles instead of the monopoles constructed on the way up to Johnnie to tie into the project.

Hamlin said at some point Nevada Power will want to upgrade its power lines from Las Vegas to Reno. The company won't be able to construct those utility transmission structures in under 75 feet height.

"We are working the political front on this and using all our resources to make sure it gets done," Valley Electric CEO Tom Husted assured the board.

Despite the bureaucratic snafu, Estrada offered some encouragement.

"We fully support it. We don't want the people of Pahrump to be left in the dark," Estrada said.

In 2002 Nellis Air Force Base officials filed a last minute objection to a wind and solar project at the Nevada Test Site, claiming it would interfere with radar.

Valley Electric board members however discussed issuing a letter of appreciation to State Sen. Mike McGinness, R-Fallon, for introducing Senate Bill 111 on their behalf, which was signed into law by Governor Jim Gibbons May 31.

Senate Bill 111 provides that a utility which supplies services only to its members, is subject to the control of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, and is not jointly owned by certain other entities, is exempt from the Utility Environmental Protection Act, another layer of permitting for the construction of new utility facilities.