Santa Fe County Commissioners last night unanimously voted to call on federal officials to pause plans to construct a power line across the Caja del Rio.
The 14-mile electric power transmission line is a key part of a National Nuclear Security Administration proposal to equip Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) with increased capacity for plutonium pit production.
The letter, drafted by District 2 County Commissioner Anna Hansen objects to the finding of a final environmental assessment of “no significant impact” on the region.
It suggests several new and alternative actions, including an ethnographic study involving tribal leaders, new scoping of the region, and development of an environmental impact statement.
County commissioner Camilla Bustamante spoke to the sacred significance of the Caja del Rio.
“Putting a power line through what is otherwise recognized by at least the Native Puebloan cultures and those that I'll refer to as Chicanismo, Chicano, Chicana, that this is sacred land—we have alternatives to taking a power line and putting a scar on something that is not equal to just any physical location.”
The letter from the County Commission states that tribal leaders feel that the NNSA, Los Alamos National Labs, and the National Forest Service have not addressed their concerns.
Commissioner Justin Greene argued that the behavior of those more powerful entities qualifies as “bullying.”
"LANL has the strength to push this through, the NNSA has the strength to push this through without very much consultation and can bully the NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act) process and really avoid all these requirements but they shouldn't. They're a partner of ours and a neighbor of ours, and part of our community," Greene said.
Greene went on to state that he feels NNSA should give a presentation at a meeting of the county board or hold some other public meeting on the Caja del Rio project.
Hansen said that their objections don’t yet rise to the level of taking legal action, but a federal ruling last week did decide against the National Nuclear Security Agency in a related lawsuit.
A Judge in that case. found that the NNSA violated environmental regulations during the evaluation process of expanded plutonium pit production at Los Alamos and a site in South Carolina.
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