Udall Votes to Limit Army Plans on Pinon Canyon Expansion

Press Release

UDALL VOTES TO LIMIT ARMY PLANS ON PINON CANYON EXPANSION

Congressman Mark Udall (D - Eldorado Springs) released the following statement in response to the 383 to 34 vote in the House of Representatives approving an amendment limiting funds for plans to expand the Pinon Canyon Manuver Site in Southeastern Colorado:

"Passage of this amendment will not necessarily stop the expansion of the Army's Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado, but Congress sent a very strong wake-up call to the Army today. This amendment will delay the process of the proposed expansion of this site until two very important questions are resolved. First, we need to understand the Army's real training needs. Second, we need to know whether the Army will assure Coloradans that it will not rely on the power of emminent domain to seize land.

I have asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to provide a review of the Army's training needs at Pinon Canyon. This request has bipartisan support from the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee, and I believe it will help us better understand the Army's training needs and whether an environmental review should be undertaken.

More important, it is abundantly clear to me that there is no support -- even among proponents of the Army's expansion in Colorado -- for the Army's use of condemnation authority to acquire any land. Unfortunately, the Army has not taken affirmative steps to assure Colorado landowners and ranchers that it will not use condemnation for any proposed expansion. Unless and until the Army makes this clear, I will oppose expansion at Pinon Canyon."

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