Author: Marissa Lorenz

The Grand County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) recently revisited the recurring theme of garbage collection and disposal, discussing the viability of reopening the Kremmling Landfill. Commissioner Rich Cimino brought the question before the BOCC, in response to local builders’ concerns over the particularly high cost of disposing construction materials, a cost which is passed on to developers and homeowners. The County Manager’s office was tasked with researching the status of the Kremmling landfill, which was closed in 2010 as part of a shifting county-wide trash disposal plan. Assistant County Manager Ed Moyer reported staff findings to the Board, with an opinion that it would likely be too costly to reopen the landfill, which has limited space and expansion options. The Kremmling Landfill occupies a 40-acre site just northeast of the Town of Kremmling. It is bounded by the Town, the Bureau of Land Management, and the bluffs. It was closed following the closure of the Granby Landfill in 2010, when then commissioners decided to get out of the government-run trash business and encourage private enterprise. The Granby Transfer Station was opened that same year by the Trash Company, or Waste Connections, Inc. Since, Grand County’s waste has been transported by truck to the Erie Landfill, 105 miles away on the Front Range. Recyclables have been hauled to Waste Management’s Franklin Street single-stream recycling facility in Denver. Moyer reported...

Freeport-McMoRan, owner-operators of Henderson Mine and Mill, have announced renewed mine development, extending the anticipated mine life from 2020 to 2026. The additional mine production will provide some temporary relief to Grand and Clear Creek Counties, which have been faced with reduced revenues due to mining reductions in 2015 and 2016 and in response to a looming mine closure. Henderson Mine has been in operation since 1976 and is the “world’s largest primary producer of molybdenum,” a necessary component in steel production. The molybdenum is then transported, via a 15-mile conveyor belt system to the Mill, south of Parshall in Grand County. But in response to a deterioration in the molybdenum market, annual production rates were cut in late 2015 and early 2016 from 27 million pounds to 10 million pounds a year, already down from 40 million pounds in 2007. In 2016, Henderson suspended development of new mining areas, reduced its workforce, and announced an imminent end to all activities. The notice resulted in serious concerns for the counties, which each receive large property tax revenues from the Mine-Mill, helping to support the local governments and numerous special tax districts. Commissioners in both counties responded by tightening annual and projected budgets. In Grand County, it created a shift from a long-time philosophy of not accruing any County debt, to exploring equipment lease agreements, capital bonds, etc. to meet...