Colorado Springs – Four Colorado members of Congress have come up with a plan they believe would allow a new veterans cemetery to be built near Colorado Springs.
Sens. Wayne Allard, a Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Democrat, and Reps. Joel Hefley, R-Colorado Springs, and John Salazar, D-Manassa, have introduced bills to build a new cemetery in the Pikes Peak area at one of several possible sites in El Paso, Fremont, Teller and Pueblo counties.
Under the bills, the cemetery site would be more than 75 miles from the closest existing veterans cemetery, at Fort Logan in Denver. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regulations require that new military cemeteries be at least 75 miles from existing ones.
As many as 103,000 veterans and 110,000 spouses who might be eligible for burial in a national cemetery live in the Colorado Springs area, Allard said.
