PUEBLO, Colo.—Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar is hearing from both sides on the Pinon Canyon issue: those who think his bills on expanding the military training site went too far and those who don’t think they went far enough.
The Democrat and fellow Sen. Wayne Allard, a Republican, teamed up on a bill requiring the Army to study whether it needs to nearly triple its 368-square-mile training site in southeast Colorado. The two split on a second bill requiring the Army to wait a year to push ahead with the expansion, with Salazar backing it and Allard opposed.
Many people at a public meeting Saturday on the Colorado State University-Pueblo campus said they were unhappy with the bill giving the Army six months to justify its plan to enlarge the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.
“We think you should take that amendment back that allows the Army another opportunity to expand,” said Lon Robertson, president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition.
Residents of southeast Colorado fear that nearly 200 ranches and farms could be wiped out by the proposed expansion near La Junta. They and other property owners also worry the Army will force them to sell their land, despite assurances from the military that it hopes to get the acreage from willing sellers.
Salazar told the crowd of about 100 that “ranching and your heritage will be protected as long as I’m in the U.S. Senate.”
The Army says it needs to increase the training site to accommodate the arrival of 10,000 more troops being transferred to Fort Carson south of Colorado Springs. It has said it would be too expensive to ship the soldiers elsewhere for training.
Supporters of the expansion fear that blocking it could make Fort Carson vulnerable to closure. Salazar heard from some of them earlier Saturday at a meeting hosted by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.
El Paso County Commissioner Dennis Hisey said he wasn’t as optimistic as Salazar that the yearlong moratorium “didn’t cast some sort of pall over Colorado’s willingness to work with the military.”
Salazar said the moratorium doesn’t mean he is opposed to the expansion, but wants more answers. He said he also wants to find a way to spread around the economic benefits.
“Trinidad continues to wither on the vine,” Salazar said. “They see the billions of dollars coming into El Paso County as part of our national effort and say, ‘Where is the benefit to us?'”
