[1st-mile-nm] CentuyLink Fiber Line to Los Alamos ?

[Richard Lowenberg]

LANL assessing environmental impacts of fiber optic line

By Scott Wyland
swyland at sfnewmexican.com
Dec 23, 2019

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/lanl-assessing-environmental-impacts-of-fiber-optic-line/article_3d7b4710-25de-11ea-834f-ab67ee898740.html

A federal agency is assessing possible environmental impacts of a 
proposed 18-mile fiber-optic cable that would stretch from Santa Fe 
across national forest land, a canyon and up to Los Alamos National 
Laboratory.

The public has until Jan. 24 to weigh in on the National Nuclear Safety 
Administration’s draft environmental assessment for a second fiber-optic 
cable to back up the lab’s main line providing internet, data and voice 
services.

The lab’s telecommunications, which are vital to its nuclear mission and 
collaborative research, are dependent on a single fiber-optic line 
that’s susceptible to outages and other interruptions, according to an 
agency statement. The second line would provide the same level of 
service to the lab and Los Alamos County as the current line does.

This environmental assessment will be used to gather opinions, analysis 
and evidence to determine whether the agency should prepare an 
environmental impact statement or issue a finding of “no significant 
impact.”

CenturyLink would own the line. Its new cable and supporting 
infrastructure would be installed on tracts controlled by the Bureau of 
Land Management, Department of Energy, U.S. Forest Service, Santa Fe 
County and the White Rock community.

The underground portion of the cable would originate and tie into the 
existing fiber-optic infrastructure at the Marty Sanchez Links de Santa 
Fe golf course on the southwestern edge of Santa Fe, according to the 
draft assessment.

 From there, it would run parallel to Caja del Rio Road, then continue 
alongside County Road 62 across BLM lands until reaching the Santa Fe 
National Forest. Then it would snake mostly within a forest roadbed and 
end at a vault near a power-line structure.

The cable would be strung up as an overhead line spanning White Rock 
Canyon to the lab’s property. Two steel single-pole structures would be 
installed on each side of the canyon to hold the line.

When it reaches Technical Area 71, it would be buried again and run 
alongside N.M. 4 until arriving at the fiber-optic facilities at Piedro 
Loop and Sherwood Boulevard in White Rock.

Steps would be taken to minimize impacts, including to soil, wildlife, 
vegetation or water, the assessment says. The project would be subject 
to state and federal anti-pollution rules.

Monopoles would be colored in such a way as to prevent reflective glare 
yet not be so camouflaged as to cause birds to fly into them, the 
proposal says. Crews would fix any construction-scarred landscape and 
return it to its original contours.

Construction work would create temporary impacts, such as noise, air 
pollution from trucks and equipment, and relatively minor traffic 
disruptions, the assessment said.

The underground portion would take 16 to 18 weeks to finish, and the 
aerial potion would require six to eight weeks to complete.



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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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