WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he will support any commitment the Army has made not to condemn private land to expand its Pinon Canyon maneuver site in southeastern Colorado.
“I’m not familiar with the details, but if the Army has made that commitment to you then I would stand behind it,” Gates told Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Gates also said he will try to get the Army to respond to questions raised by the Government Accountability Office about why the Army was able to reduce the amount of land it wants to acquire from 418,577 acres to 100,000 acres and how much of that land would be used for actual training.
“I thought (Gates’) answers were helpful,” Udall said afterward. “The Army hasn’t proved per the GAO report and other outside observers that it needs this land.”
The Army has told Congress that it will be short about 4.5 million acres nationally by 2013. The Army says it needs the new land mostly for training because it’s growing by tens of thousands of soldiers and because today’s weapons and equipment are designed to cover more ground and move faster. Modern warfare envisions scattered confrontations rather than a single major battlefield.
But in Colorado and elsewhere, the Army has run into opposition from local residents. In Colorado, the Army has offered to buy the land it wants—mostly from ranchers—but there is still concern that taking a large amount of land out agricultural production and off the tax roles will harm the local economy.
“I think there’s an opportunity here for this to be worked out to the satisfaction of all the parties involved, but there are many ranchers and farmers that fear for their way of life,” Udall said.
“Ironically or interestingly enough, many of them are veterans. They are patriots, but they want to have a clear and transparent process under way.”
