The Colorado Cave Survey, as well as most of the individual NSS grottos in Colorado, have joined Glenwood Springs Citizens’ Alliance as sponsors to oppose the proposed expansion of the Rocky Mountain Resources quarry above Glenwood Srpings. We believe this quarry expansion poses severe hazards to caves and karst in the area, as well as other important natural resources.
The Colorado Sun recently published a good summary article about the quarry expansion and its history. The BLM has now decided to require an environment assessment study before allowing the drilling of five test wells in the quarry expansion area. The complete environmental impact statement could take much longer to complete.
Rocky Mountain Resources claimed that their geological and geophysical studies showed that there were no caves in the proposed expansion area. Contradicting this claim, NSS cavers have recently announced the discovery of Witches’ Pantry, an interesting new, nicely decorated cave located within the bounds of the expansion area. This cave could be completely destroyed by the proposed quarry expansion.
The Colorado Western Slope Grotto maintains a web page that includes further helpful links to other online news reports and features about the proposed Glenwood Quarry expansion.