U.S. senator meets with local leaders to strategize blocking mine expansion
In a visit to Glenwood Springs on July 3, 2026, U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper pledged to “do all I can” to stop the proposal by Rocky Mountain Industrials (RMI) to expand the Transfer Trail limestone quarry.
The senator met with the Citizens’ Alliance and community leaders at the saddle parking lot on Transfer Trail, where the idled quarry is in full view.
Glenwood Springs Mayor Pro-tem Erin Zalinski told Hickenlooper about a troubling meeting city officials had last month during a lobbying trip to Washington, D.C. Zalinski, along with City Manager Steve Boyd and City Attorney Karl Hanlon, met with the newly-confirmed director of U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Stevan Pearce, and other top BLM officials.
“He let us know this [permit] approval was to be viewed favorably under direction of the White House,” Zalinski said. “And we were encouraged to come back to him with bullet points for what we would be willing to accept.”
“These aggressive statements prompted by high-level pressure from the White House raise serious concerns right now,” said Michael Gamba, a Citizens’ Alliance board member and former Glenwood Springs mayor who participated in the Washington, D.C., lobbying trip.
The BLM Colorado River Valley Field Office has begun its review of a mining proposal submitted by RMI. The company is seeking an updated mining permit, with an expansion of the quarry from the current 16 acres to 56 acres and a sales contract for aggregate. (See BLM deems new RMI expansion plan to 56 acres complete, June 26, 2026)
Zalinski compared it to a David vs. Goliath battle.
‘The entire community is opposed’
In the conversation with Hickenlooper, Citizens’ Alliance President Jeff Peterson explained that any expansion of the mine could damage the mountain’s delicate limestone formations, which channel groundwater from the Flat Tops downslope to feed the geothermal hot springs that emerge in Glenwood Springs.
Gregg Rippy, president of the Garfield County Mineral Leasing District and a former state representative, said, “The driver of our tourism economy is our hot springs. If we do something that interrupts our aquifer, that interrupts what happens at the Glenwood Hot Springs, at Iron Mountain Hot Springs, we have just devastated this local economy.”
Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky said the mine expansion “puts our tourism economy in jeopardy.” He noted the adversarial relationship RMI has with the community, and said, “This company does not have a social license. Any mining company that comes into a community needs to have the community’s support, and they do not have it.
“Republicans, Democrats, the entire community is opposed. Any help you can give us,” Jankovsky asked Hickenlooper, “we will appreciate it.”
Hickenlooper agrees with concerns about hot springs, truck traffic
Peterson noted that a revived mining operation would bring other impacts to the community, including dust, noise, truck traffic and a permanent scar on the landscape. And there is the worry, hanging over Glenwood Springs for the past eight years, that an expansion to 56 acres could set the stage for a revival of RMI’s 2018 proposal for an expansion to 447 acres.
“Many in our community are concerned this current proposal could be the first step toward reviving their ambition for a much larger expansion,” Peterson said.
Hickenlooper, who was a geologist before entering political life, said he understood the risks of mining to the hot springs aquifer, and the resulting economic impacts to Glenwood Springs. “Those plumbing systems are so fragile,” he said. He also expressed concern about truck traffic.
Hickenlooper pledged to work his political network, in the U.S. Senate and beyond, in an effort to block the mine expansion proposal. He noted that U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet remains opposed as well. “He’s about as pissed off as I am over this,” Hickenlooper said.
News coverage
Glenwood Springs Post Independent, July 6, 2026
Hickenlooper, Glenwood officials speak out against proposed RMI Quarry expansion
Glenwood Springs Post Independent, July 2, 2026
BLM advances review of RMI quarry plan above Glenwood Springs