Good work by Post Independent reporter Thomas Phippen to expose the link between the high-powered lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck and the quarry operator Rocky Mountain Resources.
In a required filing to Congress, BHFS listed RMR among its clients. It’s no coincidence that an owner of BHFS, working to grease the skids for the RMR strip mine, is the father of RMR’s CEO, Chad Brownstein.
It’s also no coincidence that BHFS is deploying two former top-level BLM and U.S. Dept. of Interior officials, Jon Hrobsky and Luke Johnson, as lobbyists. They’ll be working to win approvals for RMR’s strip mine plan from these same federal agencies.
Garnishing these cozy facts was a patronizing response issued by RMR, asking our community to “embrace opportunities to improve the lives of its constituents, not just those who can afford to influence local politics.”
Nothing in the RMR strip mine proposal would improve our lives.
Everything about this proposal is damaging, from the permanent scar of a strip-mined mountainside, to the noise and dust of blasting the mountain apart, to the truck and train loads incessantly moving crushed rock to the Front Range construction market.
We aren’t a narrow faction “influencing” local politics. We are local politics. We are community volunteers unified in opposition to this proposal.
Moreover, RMR has shown its disdain for “local politics” by refusing to bring its existing rock quarry operation into compliance with its Garfield County special use permit. Instead, RMR has sued our county government, alleging it has no regulatory authority over a permit that’s been in place for more than 35 years.
People, this is a serious fight. Please join the Glenwood Springs Citizens’ Alliance in its efforts to oppose the strip mine.
Visit LoveGlenwood.org and add your name to the growing list of people, businesses and organizations working together to defend against this ill-conceived proposal.
Leo McKinney, Sarah Gordon, Stephen Bershenyi, Ellen Dole, Ginny Minch and Mike Gamba,
Glenwood Springs Citizens’ Alliance Board of Directors
