RBC I Rifle, Colo., a quintessential Western energy boomtown, has fallen on hard times. High natural gas prices spurred a drilling boom in the surrounding Piceance Basin in the early 2000s. Then, in 2008, prices crashed due to an oversupply of natural gas in the North American market, and Rifle slumped into a bust from which it still hasn’t recovered.
The next bonanza could be just around the corner, though, thanks to the controversial Trans-Pacific…