Saturday, February 19, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Handout from last night and for tonight's public comment meetings.....
Army Still Seeks Expansion of the
Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS)
____________________________________________________
In 2007 the Department of Defense (DOD) gave the Army permission in the form of a special waiver to expand PCMS. Because that waiver is still in effect, the only thing keeping the Army from acquiring more land at PCMS is the continuation of the year to year funding ban enacted by Congress.
____________________________________________________
Two Critical Priorities to assure Continued Blocking of
the Expansion of PCMS:
1. Our legislators maintain the annual funding ban that prevents the Army from spending any money related to PCMS expansion
2. Our legislators push the DOD to remove the waiver or declare it null and void
______________________________________________________________
What is “The Waiver”?
In the late 1980’s the Department of Defense (DOD) approved a policy that banned any DOD agency (such as the Army) from buying large amounts of land.
However, in 2006 the Army requested an exception to this policy (a waiver), specifically to purchase more land to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, stating that the proposed expansion area was a good opportunity because it was “relatively inexpensive and sparsely populated”.
This waiver was granted by the DOD in 2007, giving the Army the green light to pursue expansion. The waiver is still in effect even now.
After a congressionally ordered investigation, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) determined that many omissions were evident in the waiver request. According to the Army’s own procedures, local public approval should have been given prior to any DOD approval of the waiver—this public approval was never sought or approved.
_______________________________________________________________
What You Can do to Help
Please contact your local, state, and federal legislators. Let them know that we MUST CONTINUE THE FUNDING BAN AND TO ASK THE DOD TO REMOVE THE WAIVER.
________________________________________________________________
For more information on the waiver, the funding ban, and for legislative contacts please look for other handouts, call us at (719) 643-5600 or visit our website at www.pinoncanyon.com
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Army Blitzes SE Colorado
We haven't asked in a while but this week WE NEED YOU!
If you could possibly sacrifice a few hours this week to be at some or all of these meetings it will speak volumes to our elected officials.
PLEASE ALSO CALL YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, NEIGHBORS - ASK THEM TO DO THE SAME.......... ANY HELP YOU CAN PROVIDE BY BEING THERE IS VITAL TO OUR BEING HEARD.
The Army seems to be blitzing us this next week, in an effort to
1. gain documentable public/political support they can use against us and
2. sidestep laws and Federal Court orders
Your presence is needed at multiple meetings:
First, Tuesday night, the 15th of February. The Trinidad City Council will be meeting at 7pm in Trinidad City Hall.
Purpose: Discussion and action relative to enacting a resolution in place of the Army requested 'Covenant'. We are told the Army will have a presence there as well and we need to show support of the City Council for standing their ground by our being there.
Second, Wednesday night, the 16th of February in La Junta, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Student Center at Otero Jr College. The Army will be holding public comment meetings on the Environmental Assessment they are issuing - designed to replace/avoid the court vacated Environmental Impact Statement. We need as many people as possible to attend and show our elected officials how decidedly opposed we are on expanding PCMS.
Third, Thursday night, the 17th of February in Trinidad, 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Sullivan Center at Trinidad State Jr College. The Army will be holding public comment meetings on the Environmental Assessment they are issuing - designed to replace/avoid the court vacated Environmental Impact Statement. We need as many people as possible to attend and show our elected officials how decidedly opposed we are of expanding PCMS.
Be sure to start calling your representatives and letting them know 'enough is enough'. Stop this expansion nonsense now!
Need legislator contact information? Goto the PCEOC website legislator page.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Critically important to start letter writing campaign to Congressman Scott Tipton
It's time once again to get out the pens and paper and send letters, emails, faxes, call and get your friends to do the same, as well as your friends' friends.
Representative Scott Tipton may not believe that so many are against expansion - he will be meeting soon with the Army commanders and we need to let him know we trust he will protect us and keep the ban in place. The more letters, calls and emails he gets the better obviously!
Please write, call his offices, send a fax, leave a message that you are against expansion and ask Congressman Tipton to keep the spending ban in place.
His contact information is:
Pueblo Office
503 N. Main Street, Suite 658
Pueblo, CO 81003
...Phone: 719.542.1073
Fax: 719.542.1127
Washington, DC
Phone: 202.225.4761
Fax: 202.226.9669
Alamosa Office
609 Main St., #105 Box 11
Alamosa, CO 81101
Phone: 719.587.5105
Fax: 719.587.5137
Grand Junction Office
225 North 5th St., Suite 702
Grand Junction, CO 81501
Phone: 970.241.2499
Fax: 970.241.3053
.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Pueblo Chieftain understands completely what must happen.....
PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN EDITORIAL
Posted: Friday, January 28, 2011 12:00 am
THE ACTING senior commander at Fort Carson says there are no current plans and no money to expand Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site — but only for the next few years.
Brig. Gen. James Doty made the statement during a meeting with The Chieftain’s editorial board this week. And, at the moment, the money for expansion doesn’t appear to be in the Pentagon’s budget.
In light of that, the Pentagon should order Fort Carson not to spend any money on land acquisition, and it should do so now. As it is, the fort has been granted Defense Department authority in the form of a waiver to pursue expansion. That waiver must be countermanded now.
However, the Army is prohibited from spending money on acquisition by virtue of an amendment to the Pentagon’s spending authorization legislation. That prohibition first was sponsored by Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and John Salazar and subsequently renewed by the same amendment sponsored by Reps. Salazar and Betsy Markey.
Now the area is represented by Reps. Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner, whom we earnestly urge to continue the ban in the new budget cycle. The Army has never made a persuasive case that it needs more area at Pinon Canyon. Even though it now appears a change in Army training doctrine will make the alleged need temporarily moot, we must never stop fighting any expansion plan.
Under that new doctrine, only relatively small units would train at any given time, meaning any need for even more than the 238,000 acres at Pinon Canyon has disappeared. But vigilance is needed, because new officers in charge of Pentagon planning could change doctrine again, and Pinon Canyon could be in the sights of a new regime.
Nonetheless, the Pentagon should rescind the waiver so that it’s clear that Fort Carson has no authority whatsoever to purchase land around the Pinon Canyon site. Once a bureaucracy — even the Army’s — gets a project under way, that effort gains a life of its own unless it is stopped dead in its tracks.
What’s deeply troubling is that the uncertainty faced by neighboring ranchers makes it difficult for them to make rational decisions about financing improvements on their spreads. And the cattle industry is huge in Southeastern Colorado.
La Junta cattle sales are second in volume only to those in Oklahoma City. Ranching and farming provide the lifeblood of the Lower Arkansas Valley’s economy and directly benefits Pueblo’s economy. Just as the valley needs to protect its water for farming, it needs to protect the ranching interests, some of which go back three or four generations.
The Army has no need to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. It should halt any and all efforts toward that end — now.
.
Posted: Friday, January 28, 2011 12:00 am
THE ACTING senior commander at Fort Carson says there are no current plans and no money to expand Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site — but only for the next few years.
Brig. Gen. James Doty made the statement during a meeting with The Chieftain’s editorial board this week. And, at the moment, the money for expansion doesn’t appear to be in the Pentagon’s budget.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Congress, by holding the Pentagon to last year’s spending level, would create a $23 billion gap in his department’s needs. In other words, there would be no money for things such as land acquisition.
In light of that, the Pentagon should order Fort Carson not to spend any money on land acquisition, and it should do so now. As it is, the fort has been granted Defense Department authority in the form of a waiver to pursue expansion. That waiver must be countermanded now.
However, the Army is prohibited from spending money on acquisition by virtue of an amendment to the Pentagon’s spending authorization legislation. That prohibition first was sponsored by Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and John Salazar and subsequently renewed by the same amendment sponsored by Reps. Salazar and Betsy Markey.
Now the area is represented by Reps. Scott Tipton and Cory Gardner, whom we earnestly urge to continue the ban in the new budget cycle. The Army has never made a persuasive case that it needs more area at Pinon Canyon. Even though it now appears a change in Army training doctrine will make the alleged need temporarily moot, we must never stop fighting any expansion plan.
Under that new doctrine, only relatively small units would train at any given time, meaning any need for even more than the 238,000 acres at Pinon Canyon has disappeared. But vigilance is needed, because new officers in charge of Pentagon planning could change doctrine again, and Pinon Canyon could be in the sights of a new regime.
Nonetheless, the Pentagon should rescind the waiver so that it’s clear that Fort Carson has no authority whatsoever to purchase land around the Pinon Canyon site. Once a bureaucracy — even the Army’s — gets a project under way, that effort gains a life of its own unless it is stopped dead in its tracks.
What’s deeply troubling is that the uncertainty faced by neighboring ranchers makes it difficult for them to make rational decisions about financing improvements on their spreads. And the cattle industry is huge in Southeastern Colorado.
La Junta cattle sales are second in volume only to those in Oklahoma City. Ranching and farming provide the lifeblood of the Lower Arkansas Valley’s economy and directly benefits Pueblo’s economy. Just as the valley needs to protect its water for farming, it needs to protect the ranching interests, some of which go back three or four generations.
The Army has no need to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. It should halt any and all efforts toward that end — now.
.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Commissioners ask for more oversight and truth in care of Historic Sites at PCMS
Saving history
The Pueblo County commissioners have asked a federal agency to intervene and oppose the Army’s training operations at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.
The request came in a letter to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. The council provides the means for citizens to help safeguard historic sites by filing request for agency involvement. The agency can require federal departments to report how they are protecting historic artifacts under their supervision.
While Fort Carson long has maintained it has worked to protect sensitive sites at the training area, officials there acknowledged that some damage occurred during a brigade training session there last summer. The training area has a number of sites relating to Indian activities and encampments.
The county commissioners made their request after hearing a presentation from Not 1 More Acre!, a coalition of ranchers and other opponents of the Army’s attempt to expand the training area. The commissioners realize that the economic health of the Arkansas Valley’s farming and ranching industry is vital for Pueblo’s own economic vitality.
All who care about this region’s rich cultural history should thank the commissioners for their involvement
The Pueblo Chieftain Editorial 12/26/2010
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