The Surface Transportation Board on Thursday rejected a plan by a rail operator to revive train traffic on Colorado’s mountainous Tennessee Pass Line. Colorado Midland & Pacific Railway Company — a new division of Texas-based Rio Grande Pacific Corp. — asked the transportation board on Dec. 31, 2020 for streamlined approval of its plan to […]
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Posted inBusiness, News, Newsletters, Outsider, Transportation
Potential operator of trains on Colorado’s Tennessee Pass promises rail line wouldn’t transport crude oil
Colorado Midland & Pacific Railroad, which is vying to run trains across the long-dormant Tennessee Pass Line between Cañon City and Gypsum, promises it will never transport crude oil, coal or hazardous materials on the line. The nascent railroad operator’s plan to return trains to the line that has been idle since 1997 riled residents […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Environment, Transportation
New plans for rail traffic over Colorado’s Tennessee Pass spark protest from grain-hauling competitor
The Rio Grande Pacific Corp., based in Fort Worth, Texas, has the lease to run trains on the long-dormant lines between Cañon City and Dotsero. But it will be many years before passenger cars and tankers filled with the freight-mover’s crude oil traverse Tennessee Pass — and not just because costs to fix the line […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Rafting season is ready to launch, but coronavirus worries are running high in Colorado
By Dean Krakel, Fresh Water News With warming temperatures in Colorado’s mountains and spring runoff in full swing, the whitewater boating season should be off to a roaring start. But Colorado’s stringent COVID-19 travel and recreation restrictions are forcing commercial rafting companies to create social distance on unruly rivers and face the potential for smaller […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
U.S. House approves largest Colorado wilderness bill in 40 years. But not everyone is happy.
Twentieth time’s a charm for U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette. More than 20 years after the Denver Democrat first proposed a wilderness bill to protect low-lying, yet untrammeled, Colorado landscapes, DeGette’s bill was approved by the U.S. House on Wednesday. The Protecting America’s Wilderness Act — setting aside 660,000 acres in 36 areas in Colorado, 478,500 […]