Located just to the west of Santa Fe, the Caja del Rio plateau boosts a diverse array of wildlife, vegetation, and spectacular biking and hiking trails. The area also holds a complicated legacy from over 300 years of conflict – stretching to the modern day.
KUNM visited the area to see where Los Alamos National Lab plans to erect a powerline in the name of “national security.”
I’m riding shotgun in a souped-up Toyota Tundra truck that gets a fair amount of use – judging from the eye-popping amount of mileage on it. It’s a little chilly out, but rays of sunshine pierce through the truck’s windshield.
Sitting at the wheel is Andrew Black.
“When you think about the Camino Real, think about it like a really complex highway system, where you have various main veins and arteries that are going through the landscape for various reasons. You’ll be able to see historically, paths that were used all the way from the late 1500s all the way until, really, the late 1800s. That’s all alive here on the Caja del Rio.”
He’s a local pastor and spearheads a coalition of environmental groups looking to score permanent protections for the Caja del Rio.
As we slowly head up a poorly maintained dirt road, put in place to access two existing power lines, we also pass many illegal roads carved by strenuous ATV use and a lot of trash.
“You got dumping right there, you got some trash stuck in there,” Black said. “This is exactly the phenomenon.”
We’re here to view where Los Alamos National Laboratory is proposing a controversial 115kV power line project.
In contrast to the road that took us up here — with illegal dumping and side roads — the area where LANL would run part of this line is undeveloped land. The line would also require new infrastructure on this part of the Caja.
LANL officials said they need the extra power so a newly developed supercomputer can perform isotope research and climate modeling. If built, this would be the third such line supplying power to the lab.
In my earlier reporting on this project, LANL officials suggested I come to the Caja and see for myself.
So here I am.
“If you close your eyes right now it is untouched and it is pristine. There’s nothing really here. There’s a bit of a cattle barbed wire fence. That’s it. And that is right there on the Camino. But, if this project goes through, you’re gonna have a powerline running right over the top of this oldest portion,” Black said.
Eventually, we reach the top of a steep hill, and my eyes are quickly pulled away from the Caja’s picturesque landscape to a pair of parallel power lines that disappear into the blue horizon.
“This is that portion of the Camino Real that we were just talking about,” Black said. “We are right on it.” Look at it. It’s running all along this edge. And this area is still an important walkway. And we can get out and look at it right here.”
“I mean, this is right where the power line will run. Look at the size of that boulder! I’ll show you something real cool with it. Look! There’s a cave… It’s insane. This is a gorgeous canyon. These paths that we are walking on have been used for thousands of years. We’ve got swallows nesting in there. It’s remarkable” Black added.
We stop to take in our surroundings. It’s dead silent. Except for the occasional bird call, or insect buzzing by.
Tagging along with us is New Mexico Wild’s Garrett VeneKlasen. He’s the conservation group’s executive director. He quickly points to a well-known staple of the New Mexican landscape.
“That juniper there is probably 500 years old,” VeneKlasen said.
Right now, the National Nuclear Security Administration or NNSA is putting the final touches on an environmental assessment for the line – this would determine if the project can go forward, or, if they need to prepare a full environmental impact statement of the damage the line could cause.
“Almost every single one of NNSA staff that I talked to – I said I’m going to take you to a couple places along the power line route. And I want you to stand shoulder to shoulder with me and I want you to look at these places and then look me in the eye and I want you to tell me that you’re okay with doing what you propose to do to this place right here,” VeneKlasen said.
While our group packs back into Andrew Black’s Toyota to head out, VeneKlasen reflects on the broader implications the Caja transmission line project has on the nearby pueblos.
“You’re talking about powerpoints and ceremonial sites, graves that we don’t know about, VeneKlasen said. “Once I equated this powerline with running a powerline through the cathedral in Santa Fe. This is their vatican. This is their cathedral. And we need to honor that from a sovereign standpoint, from the sovereign treaties that the U.S. is supposed to uphold and the Biden administration says that they honor.”
NNSA officials said the environmental assessment would come out in April. But, LANL officials now estimate it might be mid-summer.
