Summary
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) located in Los Alamos, New Mexico, has prepared this environmental assessment (EA) (DOE/EA-2122) to analyze the potential environmental affects that could result from the NNSA proposal to construct and operate a fiber optic cable and routing that would provide redundant voice, data, and internet services. LANL’s current high performance voice, data, and internet services are essential to support NNSA's mission of maintaining the nation’s nuclear deterrent and collaborative scientific research and are dependent upon a single fiber optic circuit and, as such, are vulnerable to outages or service interruptions. The proposed second fiber optic line would provide the same level of service to LANL and Los Alamos County. The entire project would require the installation of approximately 18 miles of new fiber optic cable and supporting infrastructure on lands owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM); DOE; United States Forest Service (USFS); Santa Fe County; and Los Alamos County White Rock community.