The Bureau of Land Management holds a meeting tonight in Hernandez, NM to take public input on an application by a Texas power company to construct a new 33- mile electrical transmission line. The proposed line would traverse rural Jacona, Jaconita, and pueblo lands of northern New Mexico. Verde Transmission and its parent company Hunt Power want to construct the 345-volt line to interconnect two PNM substations, one in Rio Arriba county to one in Santa Fe county
A newly organized group opposing the project is Stop Verde Project NM. KSFR’s Jenna Marshall speaks with Dan Valdez, a Pojoaque resident and member of Stop Verde Project.
Ellen Berkovitch speaks to Santa Clara governor Michael Chavarria, who speaks for the pueblo government of Santa Clara in favor of the transmission line. The pueblo governments of Ohkay Owingeh and Pojoaque are also in favor. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, San Ildefonso Pueblo does not want the line to impact its sacred site at Black Mesa, or neighboring El Rancho.