91°µÍø

On the next Let’s Talk New Mexico, we’ll explore a controversial proposed power line project through the Caja del Rio that sparked a large push to protect the area and talk to the people who recreate and use the landscape on a daily basis.

The 91°µÍø news team looks back at their favorite stories of 2024

The Caja del Rio is once again in the limelight after New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard issued an executive order banning mineral leases and large transmission lines on the area’s state-owned land on Wednesday.

As President Joe Biden wraps up his final weeks in office before a new Republican administration, New Mexico U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich is calling on the Biden administration to designate the Caja del Rio plateau a national monument.

Community members showed up in droves to protest a controversial Northern New Mexico power line project Friday, demanding federal intervention to protect the sacred and historically significant Caja del Rio plateau as a deadline looms for public objections to the plan.

The USFS draft decision comes as tribes call for a comprehensive study of the power line’s cultural impacts.

Located just to the west of Santa Fe, the Caja del Rio plateau boosts a diverse array of wildlife, vegetation, and spectacular biking and hiking trails. The area also holds a complicated legacy from over 300 years of conflict – stretching to the modern day.

Los Alamos County has approved an agreement for a large, 170 MW solar power farm in the Four Corners Region that will double the amount of clean energy dumped into the Los Alamos Power Pool – an agreement that divides power between Los Alamos National Laboratory and the rest of the county.

A controversial power line project that would dissect the Caja Del Rio plateau in northern New Mexico had a second, in-person public meeting Thursday at the Santa Fe Community College to hear public opinion on a draft environmental assessment.

The National Nuclear Security Administration is proposing to build an energy transmission line that would run across the protected Caja del Rio wilderness in Northern New Mexico. But, leaders from pueblos and environmental groups are concerned about transparency, the legal process, and the impact on the land.