BOARD02112

• Board Meeting Date: 1/9/1978
• Description: Agenda, Minutes, Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

would be available to conduct this investigation. We are trying to
work out a firm proposal at this time as to how much the cost will be
and how long: it: will. take. There is: considerable urgency in getting
on with this job,. because the matter will have to be heard in court
here in the near future. Evidence concerning the. possible effects of
these wells has to be obtained. Such evidence will be the main point I
of the. litigation. We have budgeted. $20,000 for this purpose at this
time;:not.having:a good idea of what the total cost. will: be. The :
federal government has assured us .that if we: come up with $20,000, it
will come up:with $20,000 and we will get the balance at a later date,
whatever it is.

That's the matter in a nutshell.

MR. KROEGER: Larry,
the impacts involved,
some of these things?

would you want to comment further about some of
such as the trains and the coal development and
I think it is much:more complex than water.

MR. SPARKS: The water is only one factor. A great deal of study has
been done on coal slurry pipelines:versus railroad transportation. .1
assume the D&RG is interested in this project:because.the D&RG would be
the hauling line for some of the.coal transported: to Walsenburg. -The:
D&RG would have: some financial benefit in participating in this project.
However, the. railroads to the south and east are not so happy about it.
They don't like the competition from the coal slurry pipelines. They
say, "We'll carry the coal over our railroads." It is connnon with. the
human race that we develop the facts to suit our:own pocketbooks.. This
is what the various railroads are doing.

f

There is some adverse environmental impact either way.: In general,
there is less adverse 'environmental impact:from the coal slurry pipe-
lines.. They are buried and they eliminate a lot of rail traffic.
The problem with rail traffic,.first, is that the connnunities get
tired of trains running through: their towns half the day, and that is
already beginning to occur here in Colorado. That:is beginning to be
more and more burdensome and some solution must be found.

If the future projection of the railroad coal trains comes about;
communities like Arvada, Littleton and others will be cut in half much I
of the time by constant rail traffic. Since the towns make the rail-
roads slow:theirtrains down to. twenty. or twenty-five miles an hour;
it takes a hundred-car coal train a long time to get through town.
Traffic.jams occur and people get quite:upset about it. The coal
slurry pipeline. eliminates that type:of bottleneck;

By and large, from what I can gather, the present:national administra-
tion prefers the coal slurry pipelines to railroads.

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