DENVER — The Army says its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site is just big enough to accommodate the planned addition of about 6,700 soldiers at Fort Carson, but that the quality and cost of training might suffer.
The assertion is in a draft environmental impact statement released Friday on the proposed addition of troops at Fort Carson, outside Colorado Springs.
Fort Carson soldiers train at Pinon Canyon, about 100 miles to the southeast. The Army has proposed expanding the Pinon Canyon site from its current 370 square miles to about 525 square miles.
Nearby ranchers oppose the expansion. They suspect they’ll be forced to sell their property, and that the economy will suffer with the loss of so much agricultural land.
The Army says it wants to acquire land only from willing sellers.
