GREAT FALLS -- Developer Tonbridge Power Inc. said it has reached agreements with four Montana landowners who had objected to how and where a proposed transmission line would cross their property.

"What it means is there are no further holdups for construction of this line in the state of Montana," said Richard Opper, director of the Department of Environmental Quality.

The planned $140 million Montana Alberta Tie Line would carry up to 300 megawatts of power in each direction between Lethbridge, Alberta and Great Falls. Wind farm developers plan to use the line to move their power out of state.

Some Montana landowners objected to having the power line cross their property diagonally and to the use of wider H-frame poles. In response, the Montana Alberta Tie Line project reduced the number of miles of diagonal crossings and replaced some of the H-frames with single poles.

About 130 miles of the line would cross Montana farmland.

Johan van't Hof, CEO of the Toronto-based Tonbridge, said getting support from every landowner has been an unfair "test of unanimity," but he said the company has tried to negotiate agreements rather than being "pushy" and beginning construction without them.

The settlements did not involve any payments other than the landowners' legal fees, van't Hof said.

Last week, MATL said appeals of the project were partly responsible for a five-month delay in construction of the transmission line. Work is now set to begin this fall.

An appeal of the project by property owners in Alberta was heard by the Alberta Court of Appeal in January. A decision is pending.

"If the court finds something that needs to be fixed up, we'll go fix it up," van't Hof said.

Bob Williams of Montana Alberta Tie Ltd., a Tonbridge Power subsidiary, said individual negotiations with Montana landowners over easements and mitigating the impact of the line will resume once the Alberta case is settled.