By Alaina Mencinger, Santa Fe New Mexican
December 11, 2024
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard announced Wednesday she will be halting new leases for mining, large transmission lines and major thoroughfares on a small piece of the Caja del Rio.
Garcia Richard’s order will protect the approximately 3,500 surface acres and 5,500 mineral acres of the Caja del Rio owned by the State Land Office from new mineral development and business leases or right of ways for new thoroughfares and transmission lines at or above 115 kilovolts, preserving the area for traditional uses including hunting, fishing, piñon harvesting and ceremonies.
The Caja del Rio, a more than 100,000-acre area in Santa Fe County that has been acclaimed for its role as a wildlife corridor and cultural hotspot, has been in the news lately as some local advocates agitate against Los Alamos National Laboratory’s plans to build a transmission line through the area and push President Joe Biden to protect the area as a national monument before he leaves office in January.
The Caja del Rio is primarily owned by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service, and Garcia Richard’s order will not affect LANL’s plans.
At a Wednesday news conference at which Garcia Richard signed the order, Tesuque Pueblo Gov. Milton Herrera called the area a grocery store, pharmacy and church for the pueblo, laden with medicinal plants, sustenance and spiritual significance.
“This executive order highlights the reason why the entire landscape should be protected, and the commissioner is taking a very bold step in the right direction to protect state lands within the Caja from further desecration, litter, trespass, poaching and other bad actions,” Herrera said.
The order will last until 2044, unless extended or overturned by future state land commissioners. The almost two dozen existing leases will remain and can be extended. The majority of them are for grazing or agriculture and rights of way. There are no current mining leases on the state portion.
The two existing power lines to LANL and surrounding communities have been deemed insufficient for energy needs at the lab, according to federal officials and documents, and are expected to be at capacity within three years. Alternatives to boost power such as wind and solar were deemed “unfeasible” in an environmental assessment of the project.
The 14-mile transmission line would cost about $300 million and be owned by the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Garcia Richard’s move comes after U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich this week called on U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to declare the Caja del Rio a national monument by the end of Biden’s term. Santa Fe County commissioners also approved a letter this week urging monument status.
Officials speaking at Wednesday’s news conference said monument status does not guarantee the transmission line would be halted, but they seemed hopeful it could provide additional protections.
“The interesting thing and cool thing about national monuments is they’re very context and place specific,” said the Rev. Andrew Black with the National Wildlife Federation. “So the language is going to be place specific.”
The All Pueblo Council of Governors has also come out in favor of federal protection of the site, as has Garcia Richard.
“The Caja del Rio represents a wealth of New Mexico history and culture just minutes away from Santa Fe,” Garcia Richard said in a statement. “… The area’s Indigenous and Hispano communities maintain a very deep and very real connection to the landscape through continued uses of the land that have been around for hundreds or even thousands of years.”
This article originally appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican.