LANL transmission line ‘necessary,’ lab field office manager writes

The Los Alamos National Laboratory looked at ‘every possible alternative’ for building a powerline through Caja del Rio Plateau, the lab’s top federal manager wrote in a local newspaper over the weekend.

“After years of study, debate and consultation that included the brightest minds at one of the world’s premier science and engineering laboratories, we came to the informed conclusion that the proposed transmission line is by far the best option,” Wyka said in his op-ed to the Santa Fe New Mexican, a local newspaper in Santa Fe, N.M., some 35 miles southeast by road from the lab. 

Wyka said that the chosen location was “the most responsible use of taxpayer’s money and would have the least impact to the Caja del Rio’s important land and cultural resources enjoyed by hundreds of Northern New Mexicans each year, including lab employees, retirees and their families.”

The high voltage powerline, which the lab’s owner, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), said would replace existing lines that could reach capacity by the end of 2027, has sparked controversy among the New Mexico community. 

The line would run 14 miles through the Caja del Rio Plateau, which the Pueblo tribe and its tribal governments have said could be preserved as a historic monument. Santa Fe commissioners objected to the project in a letter in October to Wyka and the regional forester in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and community members marched through Santa Fe in protest of the project on Oct. 25.

“The importance of the Caja del Rio to Santa Fe County and the Pueblos cannot be overstated,” the commissioners’ letter said. “We have called upon the President of the United States and U.S. Congress to protect the Caja del Rio, and now call upon NNSA and the Forest Service to do the same.”

Commissioners wrote in the letter that NNSA and the Forest Service did not consult “appropriate stakeholders” when finding a route. According to the letter, stakeholders would include state and tribal historic preservation officers, federally recognized Indian tribes, local governments, the National Park Service, and any group with a vested interest in a historic property.

Meanwhile, Wyka said in his op-ed that the lab “worked closely” with local stakeholders and tribal governments located near the lab to find an ideal location “with the least impact to the landscape.”

“We completed cultural resource surveys of the entire route along with tribal monitors from the pueblos of Cochiti, San Ildefonso and Tesuque,” Wyka wrote. “Based in part on their valuable input, we rerouted the line to avoid or minimize impact on cultural sites.”

Wyka concluded his article by saying Los Alamos was “committed” to “reliably” powering the lab’s supercomputers while “simultaneously protecting the integrity and beauty of the Caja. This third transmission line will do both.”