Public Comments on LANL Proposed Electrical Line Due on Tuesday, February 20th
CCNS has prepared talking points and a sample public comment letter you can use to craft your oral and written comments about the proposed 
14-mile long, 115-kilovolt electrical line across the Caja del Rio before it would cross the Rio Grande to Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). https://environment.lanl.gov/resources/epcu/ Public comments about the draft Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project Environmental Assessment are due on Tuesday, February 20th. The sample comment letter that you can modify is available right here: 240216 proposed LANL EPCU public comments
The samples may spark a deeper interest in LANL’s proposal to increase the number of electrical transmission lines across the Caja del Rio from two to three. The proposed third line would require new infrastructure, including the installation of new pole structures that would have the capacity to carry a fourth line.
Importantly, the draft assessment states that the third transmission line would be located within a 100-foot-wide utility right-of-way across the Caja del Rio. Along the route, optical ground wires would be incorporated into the overhead transmission lines. LANL reveals that “An optical fiber splice box [would be] mounted to a pole structure at an accessible location for future connection by others between the Norton Substation and the Rio Grande crossing.” See Executive Summary, p. iii.
LANL has not given any indication who are the “others” nor where the future connection would be located along the 11-mile route between the Norton Substation and the Rio Grande crossing.
On Thursday, February 15th from 4 to 7 pm at the Santa Fe Community College, LANL is hosting a virtual and in-person public meeting to accept public comments on the proposal. From 4 to 4:30 pm, there will be a poster information session. At 4:30 pm LANL will give a presentation about the draft assessment. Following the presentation public comments will begin.
The hybrid meeting will start at 4:30 pm. The connection information is available at environment.lanl.gov/resources/epcu/
This is the second public comment period on the proposal. Comments submitted during the first comment period do not have to be re-submitted. However, in order for you to have standing to object to the proposal, the Forest Service requires you to submit specific comments. The requirements are part of the Forest Service’s pre-decisional administrative review process. For more information about how to place your objection, please see 36 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 218 and 219.
Please encourage your colleagues to get involved to protect the Caja del Rio and the Rio Grande.
For more information, please see previous Updates at:
http://nuclearactive.org/important-public-meetings-next-week-and-public-comment-deadlines/ ;
- Friday, February 16, 2024 from noon to 1 pm MT
– Join the weekly peaceful protest for nuclear disarmament on the four corners of Alameda and Sandoval in downtown Santa Fe with Veterans for Peace, CCNS, Nuclear Watch NM, Loretto Community, Pax Christi, Nonviolent Santa Fe, and others. Join us!
- Saturday, February 17th –
WIPP shutdown for maintenance for 6 to 8 weeks.
- Tuesday, February 20th –
Comments due about the LANL’s Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project for a 115 kV line across the Caja del Rio, the Rio Grande to LANL. See and utilize sample public comment letter at http://www.nuclearactive.org or you can craft your own. The Draft EA is available in the NNSA NEPA Reading Room at: https://www.energy.gov/nnsa/nnsa-nepa-reading-room or directly at https://energy.gov/nepa/doeea-2199-los-alamos-national-laboratory-electrical-power-capacity-upgrade-project or https://environment.lanl.gov/resources/epcu/
- Sunday, February 25th at 1 pm –
BAN The BOMB! Multimedia event MOVIE SCREENING, MARCH & RALLY.
1:00 pm – Guild Cinema, 3405 Central Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM
Screening of “Television Event.” a riveting documentary about the world-changing 1983 TV movie “The Day After” that profoundly impacted US nuclear policies, impacted then-president Reagan, ended the cold war, and led to a reduction in our nuclear arsenal.
Guild write-up: https://www.guildcinema.com/movies/television-event
See the trailer for Television Event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ftJ-I-yAu8
2:45 pm – We will march from the Guild Cinema to Triangle Substation Park, 2901 Central Ave NE
3:00 pm – Rally against nuclear weapons in Triangle Substation Park, 2901 Central Ave NE
We will gather to share ideas about how we can change public opinion the way the movie did and bring about the abolition of nuclear weapons. Featuring music by Eileen O’Shaughnessy, Paul Pino, and the Raging Grannies.
- Wednesday, March 6 to May 15 (Bi- Weekly)
from noon to 1 pm Mountain Time– Climate Change and Human Health ECHO Program: Global Nuclear and Environmental Threats Critical to Climate Change and Human Health. To register: https://echo.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYkdO6opj8vEtDjCQltPzQPt5tyKKtkMz6T#/registration Flyer here: CCHH Global Nuclear Series_1.31.24
- Thursday – Friday, March 7 – 8:
International Uranium Film Festival at the Navajo Nation Museum, Window Rock, AZ. For more information: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/ Schedule: https://uraniumfilmfestival.org/en/usa-2024
- Wednesday, March 13th – [Comment period extended from Feb. 12th to March 13, 2024.] Comments due about LANL and its entities’ proposed Chromium Interim Measure and “final” Remedy of the
hexavalent chromium plume (DOE/EA-2216) under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). For more information and to download the document: https://www.energy.gov/nepa/doeea-2216-chromium-interim-measure-and-final-remedy-los-alamos-new-mexico Check back to CCNS’s website at http://www.nuclearactive.org for sample public comments you can use to craft your own.
Tags: Bureau of Land Management, Caja del Rio, conduct environmental impact statement”, Department of Energy, DOE, draft environmental assessment, LANL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Nuclear Security Administration, NNSA, optical ground wires, proposed Electrical Power Capacity Upgrade Project, Rio Grande, Santa Fe Community College, Santa Fe National Forest, Santa Fe New Mexican Our View “Before new power line, ” optical fiber splice box
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