Piñon Canyon Vote Landslide Victory For Salazar And Colorado

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A bipartisan amendment to stop expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site overwhelmingly passed today by a vote of 383 to 35.  The amendment was offered by U.S. Reps. John Salazar (CO-3) and Marilyn Musgrave (CO- 4) to the Military Construction Appropriations Act.

Below is Rep. Salazar’s statement delivered during today’s debate:

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud Veteran, a son of a Veteran and a father of a Veteran.  I am honored to be the only Veteran in the Colorado delegation.  As an Army man, I am saddened to rise today in opposition to the Army’s plan to condemn nearly a half-million acres of privately owned land in my district.

“Piñon Canyon currently is a 235,000 acre training facility which Fort Carson utilizes in Southeastern Colorado.  Now, the Army is seeking to expand Piñon Canyon by an additional 418,000 acres – all of it from my constituents and ALL private land owners, ranchers and farmers.

The Army plans include taking the land by condemnation

“If the Army succeeds Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon combined will be larger than the state of Rhode Island!

“Opposition to the expansion is unified in Colorado.  The Colorado General Assembly voted 86-12 in opposition to the Federal Government’s plans to use eminent domain to expand Piñon Canyon.

“When the Army acquired the original Piñon Canyon in 1982 they promised local land owners that it would never be expanded. Now, they are planning to take even more. The loss of 400,000 acres of ranch and farm land would devastate the economy in Southern Colorado which relies on agriculture to survive.

“The BRAC decision stated that the Army didn’t need this space.

I ask my colleagues this: If you can’t support it in your backyard, please don’t support it in mine.”