Bennet and Hurd team up to shield Glenwood Springs Hot Springs from quarry expansion

Sen. Michael Bennet and U.S. Rep. Jeff Hurd don’t agree on much, but when it comes to keeping bulldozers away from Glenwood Springs’ hot springs, the senator and the congressman are of one mind.

“Glenwood Hot Springs are part of who we are as Coloradans,” Bennet said to a collection of reporters via Zoom on July 23, officially announcing bipartisan legislation that would ban the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from expanding the Mid-Continent Limestone Quarry in the small mountain town.

The companion bill, aptly titled the Glenwood Hot Springs Protection Act, was already introduced to the House and will be introduced to the Senate on Thursday. The House is currently on break for five weeks, with the Senate following shortly, but the duo hope the companion aspect will set a precedent, pressing the importance of protecting the area and halting the development.

“I am pro-mining. I am pro-energy. I am pro-resource development,” Hurd said. “But responsible resource development means recognizing that not every location is the right place for every project.”

A long battle

The mine, which sits near the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, is on a parcel of BLM land and has been in operation since 1982. It was initially owned by the Mid-Continent Coal and Coke company, helping make limestone dust used in the company’s coal mines to prevent “coal dust explosions.” Rocky Mountain Industrials (RMI), a Beverly Hills-based mining investment company, purchased the quarry in 2016.

Local group Glenwood Springs Citizens Alliance has fought against the mine since 2018, but RMI has continued to push for expansion, initially asking for over 400 acres.

The United States Department of the Interior ultimately halted the mine’s operations in 2024 after a slew of legal controversies, including RMI mining and selling common gravel rather than a high-quality limestone product that could be permitted under the General Mining Law.

But that hasn’t stopped the investment company from churning. Initially reported by Aspen Daily News, BLM deemed an application to expand the quarry from 16 to 56 acres complete at the end of June, and BLM natural resource experts are now in the process of reviewing the proposed mining plans.

Hurd and Bennet want that stopped ASAP. The act, if passed, would legally bar the Interior Secretary from approving any expansion of the Mid-Continent Limestone Quarry, closing off the company’s paths to growth under both federal mining law and common-variety mineral sales statutes.

Still, the two echoed the importance of the land to both locals and tourists. Glenwood Springs brings in around two million tourists every year, acting as a main engine for the city’s economy. A lot of that traffic is to the city’s hot springs. In 2019, BLM acknowledged that the expansion could “negatively impact” the hot springs aquifer, according to Mayor Pro Tem Erin Zalinski.

“It makes no sense to allow anything to negatively impact that precious, precious resource. It’s irreplaceable,” she said.

“This is a place where people want to come to visit public lands and enjoy vast landscapes… And now a private company is proposing to triple the size of its gravel quarry outside Glenwood. This will put our one-of-a-kind resource at risk for just some gravel,” Bennet said, calling the idea “incredibly shortsighted.”

Why now?

Both Hurd and Bennet noted that the legislation likely wouldn’t pass until after the elections in November, but considered it important to get the ball rolling.

“We both feel a very serious sense of urgency because, again, once this is damaged, there’s no going back and fixing it,” Bennet said.

But why now, especially if this fight has been ongoing since 2018?

“Our understanding is there is a movement within the BLM to change the status of this mine and allow it to move forward with this expansion,” Hurd said. “We think it’s important to let the administration know our viewpoint on this.”

Bennet said they have been working on a solution for a very long time, and as time has gone on, support from locals has grown vastly, helping bolster the punch back.

“There is a value that is coming from publicly introducing this legislation and advancing it even if it doesn’t move as quickly as Senator Bennet and I would like,” Hurd said, adding that it shows that Colorado Democrats and Republicans are together on opposing the expansion. He called it common sense.