RIVERSIDE - Riverside County officials are urging that a high-voltage transmission line not go forward separately from a generating station planned near Lake Elsinore that has been part of the same proposal by a local water district and a Vista-based company.

The Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to ask the California Public Utilities Commission to keep the two projects together.

The county has limited say in that regard, first, because it lacks a formal role in the approval process and, second, because the process is already split, with state regulators exercising authority over power lines and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission reviewing applications for power plants.

It wasn't clear Tuesday what authority the state has to keep one project from being built without the other. Nevada Hydro Co. has maintained they will be built together. The company's request last month to the state commission was necessary, given the split jurisdiction over power lines and generating facilities, company representatives said. The 30-mile line would connect a 500-megawatt station with transmission lines to the north and south.

But the company's move alarmed Supervisor Bob Buster, who said the line could create hazards and nuisances with few of the benefits local residents would receive from the generating station. The station's turbines would generate electricity during peak hours using water that it had pumped into an uphill reservoir during the night from Lake Elsinore. Proponents argue the process would help stabilize the lake's water level.

Buster hasn't spoken out for or against the project as a whole. Supervisor Marion Ashley spoke favorably Tuesday about the generating station and power lines, but urged that the project not be split.

Three Lake Elsinore area residents spoke out before the vote, saying the generating station threatened to become a financial boondoggle and that the power lines could harm the environment and displace residents.