May 9, 2006 8:18 am US/Mountain
Bill Would Ban Property Condemnation At Army Site
LA JUNTA, Colo. (AP) ―
A bill introduced by Sen. Wayne Allard would prevent federal officials from condemning private property to quadruple the size of a 240,000-acre Army training site near La Junta in southeastern Colorado town.
The Colorado Republican's bill introduced Monday would require the Army to assess the economic and environmental impacts of the expansion and pay fair market value for any land it acquires.
"Increasing the size of the training site is going to go forward only if landowners in the area are willing to sell to the Army at fair market prices," Allard said in a statement. "This bill gets that message across loud and clear."
The federal government condemned some land in the 1980s to create the training site on the Purgatoire River, which has some nearby residents and ranchers worried.
Despite assurances by the military that the site would never increase in size or include live fire training, Army officials are preparing an environmental impact statement on the possibility of increasing the site to as much as 1 million acres.
Live fire training is also under consideration.
The move would provide space to train soldiers from Fort Carson, which is expected to grow by about 10,000 soldiers, and other units that include Colorado National Guard members.
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