Salazar meets with leaders on Pinon Canyon
Source: AgJournalOnline.com, by Mike Henry
August 13, 2007
TRINIDAD, Colo. - U.S. Senator Ken Salazar this past week met with members of the public and various elected officials here, to discuss the proposed expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado.
The proposal remains extremely contentious among residents in the area, who are wary of the massive project and the impact it will have on agriculture and their communities.
Salazar recently announced that he had succeeded in stalling the Army from forging immediately ahead with the proposal, without first gathering more feedback from the public of the affected area.
The senator had sent a letter to U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, requesting the military “go back to the drawing board” on the matter. Salazar received a responding letter from Acting Secretary of the Army, Peter Geren, stating the military would reconsider their approach to the proposal, based on his request.
Salazar's meeting in Trinidad last Tuesday provided an opportunity for the senator to discuss with the commissioners and citizens of Las Animas, Huerfano, Otero and Baca counties, the army's intentions, as he seeks to help form what he calls a “win-win economic scenario for the residents and communities of southeastern Colorado.”
However, while the senator may be attempting to secure a mutual existence between an increased military presence in the region and the many communities there, citizens and local officials want him to join fellow legislators in taking a firmer position on the issue.
“It would be easy for me to say no (to the Army)-hell no; politically it would be easy,” he said Tuesday, while reminding the audience that he has only one vote in congress. But Salazar also stressed his strong support of the military's infrastructure by saying he would do everything he can to make sure America is protected.
Otero County Commission-er Kevin Karney voiced his concerns about the military failing so far to provide proof that such an expansion is warranted. “The Army should prove they need the expansion,” said Karney. “They need to demonstrate the need and that there are no other alternatives.”
“I believe in a strong military, a strong defense and veterans care,” said Salazar during the meeting, calling Colorado the “crown jewel of national defense.” “I am hopeful we will see an economic renaissance across southeast Colorado.”
However, the discussion regarding economic stimulus was unimpressive to most of those present at the meeting.
“The Army's job is to defend the country; not provide economic development for southeast Colorado,” stated one rancher during the meeting. And other elected representatives, meanwhile, are far less optimistic about the region's current economic situation.
“I know (senator Ken Salazar) has to represent the entire state of Colorado; but you've also got to remember, there's a lot of acreage in America that could maybe do as well as the site here,” suggests state senator Ken Kester, who attended the meeting. “But I also think its time now that we support those people and help them get on with their lives.”
Kester says the economy of southeastern Colorado is beginning to stall because the region's farmers, ranchers, cattle sale barns, as well as other citizens and communities are holding their breath with no idea what will finally happenŠor when. Adding to the consternation is the fact that after nearly a year since the proposal was first announced by the Army, the military branch has yet to finalize the exact boundaries for the project.
“The bankers won't talk to them; they can't improve their infrastructure. They can't build new corrals or do anything like that, because they don't know what to do, and they don't know if they're going to be there,” states Kester. “The Army has not been very open with (the community.) And they don't feel very comfortable in believing what the Army says, because in the 1980's the Army didn't do what they said they were going to do. So I think its time we bite the bullet and say: we're either on one side of this, or on the other side; instead of being a little bit on the fence,” says Kester.
The Las Animas County Board of Commissioners expressed their growing frustration over the fact that the Army is not providing any concise information regarding the proposal, saying they learn more from newspapers than they do from the military's public relations department. Additionally, the commissioners indicated that any economic benefit to the region would first start in Pueblo, not in their own backyards. “We never hired Pueblo, Colorado Springs or Canon City to be our real estate agents,” stated Las Animas County commissioner Gary Hill.
“We had hoped that he'd been reading and understanding some of the information that's been out there. The rest of the country seems to understand what the issue is about Š so I guess what our expectation was, was that he would eventually listen and give a little bit more consideration for what's out there. But we didn't hear that. So I guess it was a little bit of a disappointment and also frustrating,” says Lon Robertson of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, reacting to last Tuesday's meeting with Salazar. Robertson's organization has been pushing lately to shore-up more support from senator Salazar and Congressman Wayne Allard, for the organization's efforts to prevent a forced expansion of the training site and the possible decimation of the largely agricultural-based communities there.
“I think when senator Salazar starts talking about win-win or some economic benefit to one of the local towns; when there's still a consideration for removing the agricultural base that goes with the economy of the region, that was really frustrating for me and very disappointing that he's not apparently seeing things as the rest of the country is,” Robertson tells us. Robertson questions why Salazar is not more in line with his fellow members on the federal agriculture committee, chiefly, Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave, and the senator's brother, US Representative John T. Salazar, who strongly oppose the expansion.
John Salazar and Musgrave recently were successful in putting up a large obstacle to the proposal with the passage of an amendment to a military spending bill. The amendment actually blocks, at least temporarily, the appropriation of any funding that could be used for the proposed project.
“I just feel like the people that can really make a difference, are pretty doggone non-committal,” says Kester. “I understand they want to support the troops: and so do we. But I also think that (the military) owns a half billion acres of land in America, and that there might be a better choice of sites. And I also think that (the military) has got to remember that this is their livelihoods and their lives,” Kester says of the ranchers and citizens of the affected region. Kester is also quick to add that he doesn't necessarily believe senator Ken Salazar will not continue to take a fair approach to the proposal, but remains critical that Salazar and Allard have yet taken an affirmative position on either supporting or opposing the matter. “That bothers me a little bit,” kester says.
The Pinon Canyon Manuever Site opened in 1985 after nearly ten years of research, conducted by the military, various government agencies, and a special twelve-member taskforce appointed by then Colorado Governor Dick Lamm. At a cost of nearly 30 million dollars, the PCMS opened about 150 miles southeast of the military's base at Fort Carson, near Colorado Springs. The PCMS currently contains its original parcel of land from the 1980's, roughly 250,000 acres. Nearly half of that acreage was acquired by land purchases, but the other half was acquired through the use of eminent domain and condemnation.
Robertson's coalition wants to protect the private property rights of citizens in general. However, the group's core effort over the past couple of years has been dedicated to preventing a forced expansion of the PCMS facility by means of eminent domain and condemnation.
State Representative Wes McKinley was successful last year in garnishing overwhelming support for legislation he drafted to prevent land taking by the military by forcible means.
HB-1069 was signed into law by Colorado Governor Bill Ritter this past spring.
