The idled Rocky Mountain Industrials limestone quarry as seen from the Transfer Trail saddle north of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The overhanging cliff, casting a shadow into the upper west portion of the quarry, is the result of a slope collapse that occurred in January 2023.
Photo by Andrea Holland.
Next steps are a BLM technical review followed by public review process
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced today that the third attempt by Rocky Mountain Industrials to submit a mining plan for its mothballed limestone quarry is now complete.
The proposed plan would more than triple the company’s federally-approved acreage, from the current 16 acres to 56. RMI seeks approval to mine hundreds of feet upslope from the existing quarry, blasting out the unstable overhanging cliff that remains from a 2023 collapse of the quarry’s west headwall and mining more of the slope above.
The plan also addresses longstanding permit noncompliance issues at the quarry, according to Lisa Dawson, Field Manager for BLM’s Colorado River Valley Office.
Dawson said the current proposal does not address the company’s 2018 plan for a massive mine expansion to 447 acres, although RMI has never withdrawn that proposal. The company ceased active mining operations in December 2024, but has continued to pursue a revived mining permit, submitting applications to BLM in January and December 2025.
RMI’s third proposal, submitted May 29, is considered complete, Dawson said, and will now go through a technical review by BLM staff to evaluate its impacts on other resources.
“The technical review will also include consideration of RMI’s request for a mineral materials sales contract,” Dawson said. Such a contract, required by federal law, would oblige RMI to pay a per-ton royalty to BLM for most limestone removed from the quarry.
“Once we have our technical review complete, we will have a transparent, public-facing decision-making process for the plan of operations,” Dawson said. She said the federal agency will not release RMI’s written proposal, formally called a Modified Plan of Operations, until the agency’s technical review is done.
A date for finishing the technical review and launching the public review process is uncertain, she said, as the technical review involves a question-and-answer approach with the company.
Glenwood Springs community upholds its unanimous opposition
Community, government and business leaders in Glenwood Springs remain unified in opposition to RMI’s proposal.
“We stand opposed to this damaging idea of mining upward and allowing RMI to profit at the community’s expense,” said Jeff Peterson, President of the Glenwood Springs Citizens’ Alliance.
“RMI caused the slope collapse by not properly benching the quarry. The company inherited that situation from the previous owner, but they continued to mine the area until it collapsed,” Peterson said. “RMI aggravated the slope instability, they have exhausted the usable limestone in the quarry, and now they want to triple their acreage to address the slope collapse. We can’t allow this to happen.”
The quarry’s state reclamation plan by the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety, instead requires RMI to rock-bolt the overhanging cliff. In April, the state agency increased RMI’s reclamation bond by $704,000 to cover the costs of rock bolting.
(See “State DRMS increases reclamation bond to cover rock bolting,” April 2, 2026.)
“This new proposal isn’t the whole enchilada that RMI rolled out in 2018, but it still has massive implications for Glenwood Springs,” Peterson said. “We could expect to cope with dust, noise, and heavily-loaded trucks on our city streets, plus other impacts that we won’t know about until we actually see the plan.”
Expecting RMI to submit a new mining plan, Citizens’ Alliance board member Michael Gamba joined officials from the City of Glenwood Springs on a trip to Washington, D.C. in early June. Gamba, a former Glenwood Springs mayor, accompanied Glenwood Springs Mayor Pro-Tem Erin Zalinski, City Manager Steve Boyd and City Attorney Karl Hanlon on the trip.
They met with BLM officials and with 3rd District Congressman Jeff Hurd and Sens. John Hickenlooper and Michael Bennet. In each conversation, they delivered the message that the mine expansion would be devastating to the community’s economy, environment and quality of life, and that the opposition is widespread and unified.
The message was underscored today by Angie Anderson, President and CEO of the Glenwood Springs Chamber Resort Association, which represents 430 businesses and organizations in and near Glenwood Springs.
“Our members continue to oppose this expansion,” Anderson said. “It poses a significant threat to the natural resources that drive the Glenwood Springs tourism and outdoor recreation economy, especially our hot springs and the delicate limestone groundwater network that feeds them. Protecting these assets is absolutely critical to our economy and to the quality of life that defines our community.”