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Shale country Shale boom draws uncomfortably close R~' .n:t.... ROSE;:'> And RI('ItAIU) J. SCIl!'iEJI)F:R Nt!w.St,,1t In the towns on the perimeter of Colorado's riche$l oil shale deposits, bankers and businessmen and Icx;al of. ficials are getting a little nervous. The boom that rumbled from afar has drawn uncomfortablv close. The towns aren't prePared to turn Into cities. Residents haven't grasped the l"normit)' 01 the changes to came. Town and count)' gQvern- ments aren't ready for If"nS of thousands of new people. Schools are too small, sewage facllities inadequate, watet' treatment plants mellgf'f, police forces tiny and planl\in~ too often embryonic. Too many in the rE'gion continue to talk of growth in vagw' and gt'nerallerms - of more sales and better bus in..!! for an f'ss('ntial- 1)' rnraI economy rather than of a ....rnlesale transformation of that eCOlKlmy. A crash program to l'stabl1sh a OI1e-mWlon- ban-el-a-day oil shale industry In thE> next 15 yt"8.rs is .."peeted to lure an additional 160,000 residents to a region whose present population Is halt that number. The new Coloradans ~ill need .15,000 house! and apartments, 10,000 trailer homes, 40,000 acre feet of treated ,",'ater 8 year, more than 1,000 nl'W classrooms. ell'ctrlcity', new sewage treatment plants, mil('s of '''Jads, new hospitalll, largt"r ...-dfare departments and a host of other senices, They "ill settle I~ the valll'Ys and canyons of the rugged arid countryside. turning ranches and fanns into to'.'o'ns and cities. They'll drl\"t~ Fourth of a series 0021 70.000 cars on roarls scartl'!)' trawlE'd today. They'll build stores and restaurants and thea- ters, rlock to N'creation areas and spend mil. lioos of nE'W dollars. They'll nl'ed. nel''- truck lines andair-ports, Yet even in the face at m)Tiad s t u die s forecasting those and other (ha~es. man)' of the rt>g\on's residents and leaders remain curi. ously p8!>siw _ nllmbed b)" too many figures and paralyzed b)' Insdequatl' funds and insuHi. dent information about what the oil companies plan. Each tolln in the region has its O\\n s(K'Cilic problems and its O\\n identit)', And each ooe's residents and history will sHeet the way It fart's the next tWQ decades, What follows is a descripti{Il ot some of the problems and some of the people in some ot those trMns. Grand Valley' is a sleep, litOe speed trap balfy,'a)' heN'een Glenwoud Springs and Grand Junction 00 the Colorado Ril'er. Unless you're unfortunate enough to get nabbed by' the tQ\\'n's single patrol car, you can almost drive thro.lgh without nolicing you'\"8 passed a town at all. It you do notice, )"00'1\ see I!. coupte or spanking new gas stations, an abandoned ca!e, a smaller and even shabbier cafe which is stffi in business, if only barely, and a few ram- shackle houses in need 0( repair. TIle population Is about 270. three-fifths of ....'hom probably are o\"er 60. What youth there is congregates at the on!)' cafe and talks or mOiling on as soon as high school is dispensed with, of Oeeing a town which hasn't changed much in 50 years and .....hich is inhabited by peo~le who like it exactly the way it is, "A lot of people and something L"hanging the fl"Clof the tCMn Is .....hat we don't want," says Ruth Kiesler, motel ov.-ner, beauty shop pmpri. ('tor, trailer park o\\:ner and Grand Valley's ma;rOr. She k('('p5 the town financial records on a fistful of handWTluen sheets in an old desk in a (Condml~ on SIa.g</' (0) .____--r t.> <{"- -~...------ --- ..~.=.- .... i'" I 6_Rocky Mountain News to Wed.. Feb. 20, 197<1, Denver Colo. -- r -.- - ~ .~. ~ ~ ~.j:..::i. 111 '" I .~ ~.. ~ ----- Rifle, where businessrr.en hope for boom times as city fathers fret over schools and water. Populalion may zoom from 2.150 to 20,000 by 1987,