The mountain area’s newspaper since 1958
WEEK OF JULY 17, 2025
VOLUME 66 | ISSUE 35
$2
Colorado considers challenging ‘energy emergency’ January declaration invoked by BLM to fasttrack rain facility expansion BY DAVID O. WILLIAMS COLORADO NEWSLINE
are exchanging theories on a private Facebook page and pointing fingers in every direction — including at the Town of Morrison, the Mount Carbon Metro District and builder Lennar Homes. “I’ve been continually told when I talk to Lennar that it’ll be another two weeks,” said Mary Ann Mcshan, who signed a contract to purchase a Red
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office will consider joining a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s declaration in January of a national energy emergency, he told Newsline in an exclusive interview. The Trump administration’s Bureau of Land Management invoked the emergency declaration to complete accelerated environmental review of a permit to expand a loading facility near Price, Utah for oil coming out of the nearby Uinta Basin. The expansion could increase oil capacity on the main rail line through Colorado by up to 80,000 barrels a day. It’s anticipated that the expansion of what’s known as the Wildcat Loadout facility — located on publicly owned federal lands — and other nearby facilities will allow the trucking and transfer to rail of up to 75% of the oil proposed for transport in the Uinta Basin Railway project. Eagle County and state officials have long opposed increased oil trains along the Colorado River. In a June 27 letter to Jerry Davis, acting Utah state director for the BLM, Weiser wrote that an expedited environmental assessment for the proposed Wildcat right-of-way expansion would be a “violation of applicable laws and regulations” that would block proper public input and “subject Colorado communities to significant economic, environmental, and health and safety risks.” Weiser argued there is no national energy emergency given the United States
SEE WATER, P4
SEE ENERGY, P22
A Red Rocks Ranch monument sign stands next to the completed children’s playground and splash pad. With no water available, the area is double JANE REUTER fenced and unavailable to use.
More Red Rocks Ranch homeowners left high and dry People waiting to close on homes with no water in development BY JANE REUTER JANE@COTLN.ORG
As another 90-degree July day begins, a watering truck makes its way slowly around the Red Rocks Ranch neighborhood, a crew of three stopping to water each young tree.
The grass around the trees, flowers and landscaping on nearby banks has long since browned and withered, and the crew’s only hope is to save the saplings, they said. In the nearby park, a cherry red water slide, the centerpiece of a children’s splash
pad and playground, is fenced off and silent, with no water to serve it. And around the Denver metro area and beyond, a reported 30 prospective Red Rocks Ranch homeowners are living in hotels, Airbnbs and with family members, waiting to close on new homes that have no water taps to serve them. Confused buyers, who say they are getting minimal information about the delay,
HAPPENINGS: 6 | VOICES: 10 | SPORTS: 20 | PUZZLES: 23
CANYONCOURIER.COM • A PUBLICATION OF THE COLORADO TRUST FOR LOCAL NEWS
"No! Try your not. Do.bliss Or doand not. There is no try." will open doors Follow the universe ~ Yoda where there were only walls.” – Joseph Campbell
BHHSelevatedliving.com | (303) 670-3232 29029 Upper Bear Creek Road, Ste. 104, Evergreen, CO 80439 A member of the franchise system of BHH Affiliates, LLC