Thursday, March 31, 2011

AP story says 'Army not sure if a procedure exists to withdraw the waiver'

From an AP story today (by Dan Elliott)  READ STORE HERE

"On Wednesday, the Army said the budget is a more important signal of its intentions than the waiver...
The waiver does not authorize land acquisition — it simply allows the Army to continue studying the requirements and plan accordingly," the Army's said. "Only Congress can authorize land acquisition funding."
That statement that only Congress can authorize acquisition funding is meant to mislead the public. In the same breath they state that the waiver allows them to study expansion.  In other words "we haven't asked for acquisition funding but we will continue to spend money to research and promote expansion until we get acquisition funding in the future"
In the Army's words on the waiver request in 2007:
"The Army is requesting an exception to the subject moratorium in order to acquire approximately 418,000 acres of land, estimated to be valued at $108.8M, in and around PCMS, a sub-installation of Fort Carson, CO."
AND
“approve the request and require the Army to report periodically to the DUSD (I&E) on the status of consultations with local landowners and on the continued assessment of specific lands necessary to support the training requirement.”
 
It says nothing about 'budget' in that letter giving approval for a waiver of the moratorium - This waiver ALLOWS THE ARMY TO PROCEED WITH EVERY OTHER EXPANSION PROCESS EXCEPT TRADING TITLE.  IT ALLOWS THE SHADOW OF EXPANSION TO LOOM INDEFINITELY. 

REFUSING TO REMOVE THE WAIVER IT TANTAMOUNT TO THUMBING THEIR NOSES AT OUR CONGRESS.
 
So to say they 'aren't going to expand' is difficult to believe as long as that 'internal process and go ahead' exists. "They're not sure if a procedure exists to withdraw it" - give me a break. If it was something they thought would benefit them they would devise a procedure. 


1 comment:

Doug said...

Let me try to say this delicately; the Army is not providing all of the facts when they say, "The waiver does not authorize land acquisition-it simply allows the Army to continue studying the requirements and plan accordingly." There is a document that Fort Carson and other bases produce for this purpose. It's called a "Land Use Requirement Study," (LURS). The waiver goes beyond studying and planning. It is a permit. The very first sentence of the waiver approval states it pretty clearly, "the Army is requesting an exception to the subject moratorium in order to acquire approximately 418,000 acres of land, estimated to be valued at 108.8M." If it has no intention of expanding Pinon Canyon, why won't the Army cancel the waiver? After all, they claim it doesn't really mean anything. So why won't they grant us this additional reassurance? All it would take is a simple memo from Secretary of the Army McHugh stating that, "the waiver, granted by my office on February 7, 2007 is hereby by declared null and void." It's pretty obvious that want to keep the waiver in place because it an important weapon in their acquisition arsenal. Right now the safety is on,(year-to-year spending ban) and there's no bullet in the chamber,(Congressional funding), but they've got the gun, aimed and ready. Telling us that there is nothing (currently) in the budget for acquisition is cold comfort. We've seen how military budgets can turn on dime. And what about their "black budget;" all of the billions that nobody is allowed to monitor? What about the fact that a couple of years ago, then Army Undersecretary Keith Eastin said, "we believe we already have adequate money appropriated for that purpose in our current land acquisition budget?" (Pueblo Chieftain, July 18, 2008)

Share |
Powered By Blogger

Our youth is our future

Our youth is our future
Regionwide support