Dec 8, 2006 10:32 am US/Mountain
No Pinon Canyon Expansion Until At Least 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
The Army will not expand its training site at
Pinon Canyon in southeastern Colorado at least until 2009, Colorado's senators announced Thursday after meeting with a Pentagon official.
The Defense Department is expected to decide in coming months whether to continue with the proposal to expand the 240,000-acre training site to as many as 1 million acres. But the official said the Army would not ask for funding for the project until the 2009 budget year, the senators reported.
Sens.
Ken Salazar and Sen.
Wayne Allard met separately with Keith Eastin, assistant secretary of the Army for installations and environment, to discuss the Army's plans for Pinon Canyon.
The Defense Department is still evaluating the Army's training needs before determining whether to expand Pinon Canyon, Salazar said during a conference call with reporters.
"There are still many steps to take before conclusion," said Salazar, a Democrat.
The proposal has raised concern from nearby residents because the expansion could swallow up dozens of ranches and farms, some of which have been in the same family for many generations.
Congress approved a defense spending bill earlier this fall requiring the Pentagon to answer several questions by Nov. 30 about Fort Carson's current and future training requirements, the economic and environmental effects of expansion, estimated costs, and whether expansion could be handled by buying, leasing or exchanging land with property owners around the site.
It also asked what options were considered for compensating communities that will lose property tax revenues.
Salazar said the report would be delivered by Friday, though it will not be complete until the Defense Department officially decides whether to go ahead with the expansion.
Both senators said they told Eastin that the Army should only pursue willing-seller, willing buyer land acquisitions -- not condemnations.
"The questions that were included in the report were brought to me by the community and need to be addressed," Allard, a Republican, said in a statement. "Now that we know the decision from the Army won't come until 2008, I am confident that they are aware of the benchmark questions that are important to southeastern Colorado and will take them into account as they proceed."
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