Looks like another flap between six Southern California cities (including LA, Glendale, Burbank and Pasadena) and Utah area cities over the Intermountain Power Project.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the California cities, which take 75 percent its power, are blocking the construction of a third coal-fired generator to the 1,800 megawatt plant. They cite California state laws aimed at rolling back greenhouse gases, but the 23 Utah cities operating the power plant say they could use the extra juice.

Six California cities, concerned about global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, are refusing to allow a third coal-fired generating unit to be built at the Intermountain Power Project near Delta.

Their action promises to pit California's tough new environmental laws and the state's commitment to rolling back greenhouse emissions against the interests of thousands of Utah consumers who eventually may need the electricity that a third generating unit could provide.

The six California cities take 75 percent of the electricity generated at the IPP. As a result, their votes far outweigh those of the 23 Utah municipal members, which are represented by the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems, or UAMPS, and Rocky Mountain Power.

The whole matter could wind up in court, with the Utah municipalities and Rocky Mountain Power vowing to do whatever is necessary to clear the way for the new unit.

"We have no problem if they don't want to participate in building that unit," said spokesman Dave Eskelsen of Rocky Mountain Power, which takes 4 percent of the power produced by IPP and is interested in getting more to meet its customers' demands.

Rocky Mountain Power, however, considers it improper for those California cities - Los Angeles, Pasadena, Anaheim, Burbank, Glendale and Riverside - to block needed generating capacity in Utah to satisfy California's environmental laws.

You may recall last fall when Intermountain asked the six cities to renew their energy contracts until 2044 (the current contract expires 2027), but the Sierra Club pressure them to sit it out. All did except for Burbank, which unknowingly signed the renewal, and later managed to wiggle out of it after Intermountain agreed to extend the deadline until 2023.

Still, the Six Cities won't be cutting ties to the plant any time soon-- they lent $3.2 billion to construct the project and it has paid them back in cheap power at the cost of roughly 15 million tons in carbon-dioxide emissions per year.