Plans to power Los Alamos lab supercomputers spark pushback from Pueblo communities, environmentalists

Northern New Mexico Indigenous communities and environmental groups are calling for the reconsideration of federal plans to run a new transmission line through an ecosystem they say is both vulnerable and critical to local tradition.

The plans, proposed by the National Nuclear Security Administration and the Department of Energy, involve the construction of a 14-mile, 115-kilovolt line that would boost power reliability and redundancy for supercomputing and other projects at the Los Alamos National Labs (LANL).

An LANL fact sheet summarizing the project describes the new power supply as critical to the site's national security missions, which include "top supercomputers used to model weapon performance, climate change, disease progression, wildfires and more," as well as a particle accelerator used for medical, nuclear and aerospace purposes.

But the Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project would also traverse the Caja del Rio plateau, where activists are seeking to protect cultural and natural resources, vital biodiversity and environments that are woven into the fabric of adjacent Pueblo communities.

"It's so beautiful, and it has different variations of the land — there's mesas, there's canyons," Reyes DeVore, a Jemez Pueblo member and program director for Pueblo Action Alliance, told The Hill.

"But also, there are sacred sites in areas that the surrounding Pueblo people and communities have connection to," DeVore continued. "When I think about the harmful impacts, I think about the disturbance of the land in itself, but also the stories that are held there."

Although the project accumulated more than 23,000 opposition statements during a public comment period that followed the release of a December environmental assessment, the plans have continued to advance. 

The project cleared one of its final hurdles last month, when the U.S. Forest Service released a draft decision indicating it found "no significant impact" on the Santa Fe National Forest.

Such a declaration is necessary for the project to receive a Forest Service special use permit and right-of-way grant from the Bureau of Land Management, per the draft.

The release of the draft decision launched an objection period, after which a final decision is expected to be issued on Jan. 1 when the project's implementation could also begin.

DeVore said that during this objection period, she and her colleagues are working with Tesuque Pueblo leaders and members of the Caja del Rio coalition to raise awareness. Their goal, she explained, is to push the Forest Service to reconsider its decision on the special use permit and convince officials of the need for a tribal-led ethnographic study.

The U.S. Forest Service declined to comment and instead referenced the draft decision and final environmental assessment.

"As Indigenous people, we're going to do what we need to do to protect our landscapes that we have connection to, but also to stop further development that could potentially harm — and we know that it will," DeVore continued.

Such calls have extended far beyond indigenous communities and local activist groups. In fact, Santa Fe's City Council in June 2022 passed a resolution supporting the long-term preservation of the Caja del Rio plateau.

"The Governing Body supports all efforts to empower Pueblo Nations and traditional Hispano communities in performing meaningful cultural interpretation, environmental education, and historical preservation of this treasured landscape," the resolution stated.

The month before, the Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners adopted a similar resolution — likewise expressing support for "the permanent protection, long-term preservation and responsible stewardship of the Caja del Rio landscape."

Nonetheless, federal agencies have deemed the new transmission line necessary because two existing lines are expected to approach capacity by the end of 2027, according to the LANL. The project would also include the addition of a 100-foot-wide right-of-way corridor and a fiber optic line to improve communication between the LANL and the Los Alamos townsite. 

The fact sheet from the lab explains that although a variety of renewable energy options were considered as alternatives, they were deemed insufficient, due to technical, environmental and time concerns.

Reconductoring existing transmission lines would mean either taking the lines out of service or constructing new temporary lines in parallel to those undergoing the upgrade, over the 51 miles of complex terrain, the document explained.

Noting that input from surrounding tribes and pueblos was "integral to our decision making," the fact sheet said the NNSA would continue to conduct government-to-government meetings.

The agency added that four tribal monitors from Pueblos of Cochiti, San Ildefonso and Tesuque participated in cultural surveys along the proposed route — providing input that helped the NNSA tweak the path as necessary.

Romir Lahiri, New Mexico associate program director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, said he would like to see the federal agencies conduct a full environmental impact statement rather than just an environmental assessment, which requires less comprehensive analysis. 

Such a review, he told The Hill, could "explore other options outside of this one path that cuts through this landscape, sacred to a lot of the tribes in the area, and also important for kind of wildlife connectivity and landscape connectivity."

Aiming to dispel conceptions that the region is just "desert, barren landscape," Lahiri stressed "there's a ton of biodiversity, from grasses to juniper trees that are home to tons of birds." The Caja del Rio plateau is also home to mountain lions, elk, deer and other animals, he added.

Lahiri said he believes that considering the 23,000 comments opposing the plans, there should be more exploration of alternatives. He cited the use of renewables or the identification of a different route as possibilities, while emphasizing that local consultations should be more meaningful.

"This is an environmental justice issue," Lahiri said. "It is a pretty classic way of the federal government ignoring the desires of local communities."

DeVore, meanwhile, went one step further — criticizing the LANL for what she described as a "harmful legacy" and "a hold on Pueblo communities in northern New Mexico."

Raising concerns about the health of the Pueblo people and New Mexico residents in general, DeVore said she could see merits in the shutdown of the LANL entirely.

"What they're pushing out of LANL itself is nuclear weapons and in the name of national security," she added.

In response to the local pushback, Franchesca Ramirez, a spokesperson for the LANL, said in an email that "Los Alamos National Laboratory requires a reliable and resilient energy source to ensure the lab can continue to operate and retain vital missions."

Conducting the upgrade "with minimal impact to the Caja del Rio’s history, culture, and environment remains our priority," Ramirez continued, referring The Hill to the project fact sheet for more details.

"Numerous energy sources and transmission options were thoroughly examined, and it was determined that a new transmission line and internal system upgrades were the best alternative," Ramirez added.