FROM THE ARCHIVE

Pueblo keeps road open

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MAY 1, 2000

San Ildefonso Pueblo and the Department of Energy reached an agreement on Sunday which keeps State Road 4 open. On December 31, 1999, a 50-year lease between the Pueblo and the state ended, leaving the status of the road in doubt. Photo © Santa Fe New Mexican San Ildefonso officials threatened to close the road on New Year's Eve and promised to place a toll on the road sometime in the future. At the time, then Governor Terry Aguilar said the toll would have been less than 50 cents.

Opposition to the plan came quickly. Bomb threats were directed at the pueblo, threatening to destroy any toll booths erected.

A boycott of the tribe's gas station in White Rock was suggested. The community of White Rock would have been most affected by a toll or road block. The road is used by about 7,000 commuters.

The road is also a primary access point to Bandelier National Monument, a historic pueblo site.

The lease was entered 50 years ago, when the US Atomic Energy Commission began using the Pueblo's land. The state of New Mexico took over management of the road in 1968.

With the lease about to expire, the state had offered to buy the land, but the tribe resisted. The Department of Energy then entered into negotiations over the road. Although the Department uses the road for materials shipment, a Los Alamos official earlier commented that a road block or toll would not have a significant impact on the government.

After getting a four month extension on the lease, negotiations between the DOE and the Pueblo came to a halt last week. The DOE offered the tribe an amount of money for a 20-year lease but the tribe rejected it. The tribe said they would place cement barricades on the road today.

The new agreement calls for a long term but limited release. Details of the agreement will not be released until later this week, but there will be money paid to San Ildefonso. The cost will be split between the DOE and Los Alamos County.

The agreement was praised by current Governor Perry Martinez as preserving the tribe's sovereignty.

(In an unrelated incident, the DOE accidentally transported hazardous waste across San Ildefonso sacred land in December. They apologized to the Pueblo.)

Staff and news wires contributed to this report.