WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday he will support any commitment the Army has made not to condemn private land to expand its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in 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 it will be short about 4.5 million acres nationally by 2013. But the Army has run into opposition. In Colorado, the Army has offered to buy the land it wants, but there is concern that taking a large amount of land out of agricultural production and off the tax rolls will harm the local economy. The Associated Press
