Short time to oppose Caja del Rio power line

As spiritual leaders busy with the upcoming religious and cultural holidays, we were stunned to learn that on Dec. 19, the Biden administration announced a proposal to construct a massive power line cutting across the Caja del Rio. This is an area of profound spiritual, cultural and religious significance to communities throughout Northern New Mexico.

The proposed project, a redundant source of power for Los Alamos National Laboratory, will significantly impact the area’s wildlife and local communities that directly depend on the region to uphold their cultural, spiritual and local traditions. The announcement, coming at a time when people are trying to be filled with holiday cheer, feels like a giant lump of coal from the administration.

So many things are wrong with this proposal. First, the timing feels cold and calculated — as if the National Nuclear Security Administration is purposely trying to slip this under the radar when people are busy with religious and cultural holidays and the pueblos are engaged in feast days and in the midst of major leadership transitions. On a project of this magnitude, it is critical to have in-depth and meaningful tribal consultation. The 30-day comment period also means the public has little time to be educated and engage in a plan that has serious consequences for America’s public lands, water and wildlife.

Even more disturbing are the details of this plan. It will include the construction of giant power structures spanning miles. It will spoil the sweeping views of the Caja del Rio and have significant impacts to the area’s wildlife, sacred, cultural and historic sites as well as traditional land uses.

The Caja del Rio is home to herds of mule deer, elk, cougar and bear, as well as birds such as bald and golden eagles and the Southwestern willow flycatcher. Heavy trucks and machinery from this project will also threaten Western burrowing owls and other important species. Massive new electrical towers and transmission lines will interfere with critical wildlife habitat and migrations. Roads used for this construction will fragment critical wildlife corridors and disrupt one of the longest migration routes in the nation along the Upper Rio Grande.

In addition to wildlife, important sacred and cultural areas will also be at risk. Since time immemorial, Pueblos have used this area for spiritual and traditional practices, hunting and medicinal herb gathering. Ancient petroglyphs and sacred sites can be found throughout the landscape. The Caja del Rio is also home to the historic El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the longest ancient trade route in North America that ran from Mexico City to Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo. Construction of this proposed transmission line creates a very real threat to the living history, spiritual traditions and cultures that make New Mexico the Land of Enchantment.

In a time where climate change is one of the greatest threats to national security, we are seriously concerned the lab is not pursuing the possibility of developing renewable power sources on the 20,000-plus acres of land owned by LANL. Creating a point source for renewable energy at the labs would not only avoid the need to build this devastating transmission line, but also prove the Biden administration is committed to following its own mandates and commitments around renewable energy. Surely, LANL has scientists and engineers smart enough to figure this out.

Despite being busy with family and religious traditions this holiday season, we pray the residents of New Mexico will speak up against this project. Please let the Biden administration know you oppose this proposed power line. Quite simply, the LANL transmission project is being proposed in the wrong place, at the wrong time and for all the wrong reasons.

The Rev. Andrew Black is a Santa Fe native, a minister at First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, the public lands field director for the National Wildlife Federation and the founder of EarthKeepers 360. Joseph Brophy Toledo is the co-founder and cultural adviser of the Flower Hill Institute, an individual member of Walatowa Pueblo (Pueblo of Jemez) and remains deeply connected to the power points of the Caja del Rio. Sister Joan Brown, OSF, is executive director of New Mexico & El Paso Interfaith Power and Light.