A Butte-Silver Bow Council member says he has the votes to stop the Mountain States Transmission Intertie or MSTI power line proposal in the county.

A group of power and transmission firms wants to build the line to transmit power to large cities outside the mountain states.  But opponents claim the line would ruin scenic views, lower property values and possibly cause health problems.

The preferred route for the companies proposing the 500 kilovolt line is through southern Silver Bow County, then south along Interstate 15. MSTI is sponsored by NorthWestern Energy and would provide a link of 350-450 miles between a new Townsend substation in southwestern Montana and the Midpoint substation in south central Idaho. An intermediate connection will be made at the existing Mill Creek substation.

Click here to see a map of the proposed route.

Councilman Mike Sheehy, an opponent of the line, wants to pass a measure requiring that it be buried underground. The companies say the technology to do that is prohibitively expensive and has never been tried for such a long distance. It would effectively ban the lines from Silver Bow County.

Sheehy says he has six votes supporting the underground ordinance and possibly a seventh. He says a vote is not expected to happen until a firm route is reported toward the end of February 2010.

Sheehy's ordinance is scheduled to be discussed at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Click here to read more on the MSTI proposal.

- John Sherer reporting for KXLF in Butte