COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Colorado U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman said he’s trying to help the Army expand a training site in southeast Colorado by banning the military from seizing the land it needs.
The Republican introduced a bill Tuesday that would prohibit acquiring land through condemnation to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The bill would make official the Army’s pledge that it won’t seize land to add 100,000 acres to the existing 235,000-acre site.
Coffman, a Marine veteran, supports expanding the site used by Fort Carson, just outside Colorado Springs.
Area residents have opposed the Army’s expansion plans out of fear that private property will be condemned, land will be taken out of agricultural production and the local economy will be harmed.
Democratic U.S. Rep. John Salazar, whose district includes the training site, has led efforts in the House to ban funding for the project.
But the Army said it needs to add about 156 square miles to the training site to accommodate new weapons and tactics and a proposed increase in troop numbers.
“This would be a permanent fix,” said Nat Sillin, Coffman’s spokesman.
Opponents, however, aren’t convinced.
“There’s no way to acquire that much land without condemning somebody,” said Lon Robertson, head of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition.
