{"id":2451193,"date":"2019-11-15T21:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-16T04:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/expansion-of-quarry-near-gwood-has-city-at-war\/"},"modified":"2019-11-15T21:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-16T04:52:00","slug":"expansion-of-quarry-near-gwood-has-city-at-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/expansion-of-quarry-near-gwood-has-city-at-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Expansion of quarry near G\u2019wood has city at \u2018war\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Jeff Peterson, executive director of the Glenwood Springs Citizens Alliance, and Mayor Jonothan Godes speak to members of the media about the possible expansion of the RMR quarry located just north of Glenwood.<\/strong>
Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are at war.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that statement, Glenwood Springs Mayor Jonathan Godes made it clear Friday that the city would do everything in its power to prevent the expansion of the limestone quarry north of town.<\/p>\n

The proposed expansion of RMR Industrial\u2019s quarry north of Glenwood Springs \u201cis a regional threat,\u201d Godes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a Glenwood Springs issue, this isn\u2019t just a threat to another Colorado mountain town,\u201d Godes said.<\/p>\n

The city is committing $1.25 million to fight the quarry expansion, allocating $250,000 in the 2020 budget for the current efforts, and setting aside $1 million in reserve funds to put toward opposition.<\/p>\n

But Godes promised to commit any resources necessary to combat RMR\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe budget figure for the long haul is whatever it takes,\u201d Godes said.<\/p>\n

The city will unveil the \u201cDon\u2019t strip Glenwood\u201d campaign Saturday at the community meeting The Whole Shebang, detailing their efforts to combat the quarry expansion.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Land Management is in the process of starting an environmental review of RMR\u2019s proposed expansion, which seeks to expand the limestone quarry from about 23 acres to 321 acres, and remove millions of tons of rock per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cA driving push of that campaign is to get people to support our Citizens Alliance,\u201d which formed in 2018 to oppose any expansion of the quarry, city manager Debra Figueroa said. City Council also will take initiative to \u201cfight to protect our town,\u201d Figueroa said.<\/p>\n

Municipalities from Aspen to Rifle have all unanimously passed resolutions opposing the expansion, and supporting Garfield County in RMR\u2019s legal challenge to a county special use permit.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many of these people have supported us because local control is still so important to our towns and our communities,\u201d Godes said.<\/p>\n

The idea that an out-of-state mining company can set up shop on federal land close to a small community without the say of local authorities should be concerning to everyone in the region, Godes added.<\/p>\n

RMR did not respond to requests for comment on this story, but in previous statements have said that they are among the safest mine operators in Colorado, and want to provide economic opportunities for a region \u201clacking economic diversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Godes said that the region stands to lose around 2,000 jobs if the quarry expansion goes through. The project also could jeopardize the area\u2019s hot springs, which are both culturally significant and crucial to tourism.<\/p>\n

RMR\u2019s statement also criticized local leaders for trying to influence politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cRMR believes a community should embrace opportunities to improve the lives of its constituents, not just those who can afford to influence local politics,\u201d RMR said in a statement to the Glenwood Springs Post Independent earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Those opposed to the quarry are concerned that national political influence will trump local control.<\/p>\n

The primary owner of the quarry is Chad Brownstein, \u201ca very privileged individual\u201d according to Citizens Alliance executive director Jeff Peterson. Chad Brownstein is the son of Norm Brownstein of the lobbying firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where current Interior Secretary David Bernhardt once worked.<\/p>\n

In April, RMR hired Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck to lobby in support of the quarry expansion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concern of locals trying to influence politics seems hollow when they\u2019re trying to do it at the national level,\u201d Peterson said.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeff Peterson, executive director of the Glenwood Springs Citizens Alliance, and Mayor Jonothan Godes speak to members of the media about the possible expansion of the RMR quarry located just north of Glenwood.Chelsea Self \/ Post Independent \u201cWe are at war.\u201d With that statement, Glenwood Springs Mayor Jonathan Godes made it clear Friday that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 06:12:21","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}