Sens. Salazar and Allard Continue Fight for Pikes Peak Veterans' Cemetery

Press Release

Sens. Salazar and Allard Continue Fight for Pikes Peak Veterans' Cemetery

Today, United States Senators Ken Salazar and Wayne Allard continued their push for a National veterans' cemetery in Colorado's Pikes Peak region by urging the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs Chairman, Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI), and ranking member, Senator Larry Craig (R-ID), to hold a hearing and mark-up as soon as possible on their bill, S.168, "to direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish a National cemetery for veterans in the Pikes Peak Region of Colorado."

"Sadly, the veterans, service members, and military families who live in southern Colorado do not have a national cemetery of their own," wrote Senators Salazar and Allard. "The men and women in uniform who live and serve in southern Colorado have made extraordinary sacrifices. They deserve a national veterans' cemetery in their own community, where they can pay tribute to their friends, family, and fellow service members."

In their letter, Senators Salazar and Allard noted a number of unique factors that warrant a veterans' cemetery being cited in Colorado Springs, including:

* Future Growth: Current VA guidelines set a threshold population of 170,000 veterans in a region to create a new cemetery. Although Southeastern Colorado's current veteran population of 150,000 lies below this threshold, Colorado Springs, the region's largest city, is home to 32,000 active duty personnel.
* Travel Time vs. Travel Distance: Current VA guidelines set a strict 75-mile threshold of travel distance for veterans to reach the nearest cemetery. However, this guideline fails to account for a more reasonable measure: travel time. Family members and friends of fallen service members often must travel several hours in traffic and bad weather to reach Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver.
* Cultural Realities of Colorado: Current VA guidelines do not account for any real-world considerations, relying instead on maps and statistics to determine where national veterans' cemeteries are built. By strictly adhering to these guidelines, VA officials fail to appreciate that the Pikes Peak region is the "center of gravity" for the military in the Rocky Mountain West.

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