Continuing harassment of US citizens...

Even after getting bi-partisan support in the US congress, the Colorado legislature, the Governor, our local and regional representatives, our commissions, our schools, our conservancy districts, our FFA youth, along with a multitude of these and other groups, agencies, towns and cities that have passed resolutions against the expansion, and almost 12,000 individuals (signing petitions against the expansion of PCMS).... the Army continues to harass the citizens to promote their 'convenience only' agenda.

The Army continues to push AND harass our citizens to 'sell' to the Army - the issue is not if there is ANY willing seller as they don't have approval to go forward with any acquisition and should NOT be continually pursuing residents to sell - against their will and against the congressional ban.

Everyone ALSO needs to understand that there is NO POSSIBLE WAY TO ACQUIRE ANY LAND WITHOUT USING EMINENT DOMAIN.

Even if they were 'approved by Congress' and even if they were allowed to coerce one or two people to sell, there are 'non-willing' sellers that have land in and around each others' parcels that would prohibit any possibility of a contiguous area - thus mandating that they then use eminent domain.

Just like they did in the 1980's when they said they 'have 100% willing sellers' but then had to condemn the majority of the 240,000 acres that is now Pinon Canyon.

Remember:

• Numerous Army documents show an 18-year, multi-phased, plan to turn most of SE Colorado into a huge live-fire range (in their own words in the application to the DoD).

Eminent domain is inevitable. It has been on and off the table with each change in Dept. of the Army leadership. A commitment by one Army secretary does not necessarily carry over and apply to succeeding leaders eighteen years into the future.

• The Army has been publicly promoting the concept of sustainability, even hosting annual regional sustainability conferences. But the expansion of Pinon Canyon would violate a core principle of sustainable growth in that the expansion of the military-dependent Colorado Springs economy would be achieved at the cost of destroying the ecological integrity and economic viability of SE Colorado.

According to the Army's Analysis of Alternatives document, the Army's expansion plan would ultimately create 17,000 refugees in SE Colorado.

• The expansion has been decisively opposed by elected officials from both parties at every level of government; County commissioners, State legislature, U.S. Congress. The State of Colorado has passed two bipartisan bills opposing Pinon Canyon expansion; HB1069 which withdraws consent by the State of Colorado for the Army to acquire land to expand Pinon Canyon, and HB1317 which prohibits the sale of state lands to the Army for expansion.

The GAO found that the Army failed to adequately answer all of the points that they were required to respond to by Congress, therefore failing to justify their expansion proposal. The Army argues that all of these questions would be answered within the NEPA process. An EIS is not supposed to be an exploratory process, or a justification process, but an Assessment of the environmental impact of a project with has already been properly explored and justified. The Army is attempting to do an end run around congressional oversight.

• GAO-09-171 says that the Army's report, "addresses these objectives and identified the 23 of the 29 reporting provisions that the Army generally addressed but "not the extent to which we do or do not concur with the Army's plan." (page 20)

GAO-09-32 reviews the Army's approach to land acquisition; not whether their proposed Pinon Canyon expansion is a good idea. The report clearly states, "We did not assess the soundness or validity of the Army's proposed or completed land acquisition."

• GAO-09-32 points out that the Army's application for a waiver made to the DoD was done on the basis of an outdated Army Ranges and Training Lands Strategy.

These GAO reports indicate that the Army failed to justify expansion and failed to comply with mandated Congressional reporting criteria. Congress should direct the DoD's to revoke it's waiver on acquisition which authorized Pinon Canyon expansion. The waiver should be voided and the Army should once again be under the DoD ban on major land acquisitions.

• The Army has been operating in contempt of congress; pursuing expansion in defiance of a congressional ban on spending and harassing the people and communities of southeastern Colorado in the process.