The National Nuclear Security Administration has issued a finding of “no significant impact” for a proposed 14-mile, 115-kilovolt transmission line to service Los Alamos National Laboratory and Los Alamos County, clearing the way for the project to start construction.

The transmission line — intended to resolve a looming power shortage that lab officials say could materialize in a couple of years — would cut through Bureau of Land Management and Santa Fe National Forest lands, including the Caja del Rio, a more than 100,000-acre area west of Santa Fe prized for its cultural and ecological significance that some hoped would one day become a national monument.

The finding document, signed by NNSA Los Alamos Field Office Manager Ted Wyka, stated due to an insufficient regional power supply

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