Judge rules Army 'Arbitrary and Capricious'

From the September 10th Pueblo Chieftain:

IT'S TIME for the Army to go back to square one now that a federal judge has blocked plans to increase its use of the existing Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch this week set aside the Army's decision authorizing new facilities and year-round training at the 238,000-acre site northeast of Trinidad. The judge concluded the Army's impact statement "does not adequately assess the impact on the environment of the increase in intensity and duration of training operations" at the site.


"The Army's conclusion that there would be no significant environmental impacts is counterintuitive," Judge Matsch wrote.

We share the judge's recognition that there would be massive environmental damage from heavy military trucks and tanks grinding down the fragile ranchland that exemplifies Pinon Canyon. And to expose the land to a constant beating year-round would be unacceptable.

The Army has taken the judge's ruling under advisement, but has not indicated what its next course of action might be.

The best thing for Southeastern Colorado would be for the Army to abandon its ill-conceived plans to not just increase use of the existing site but to expand it by at least another 100,000 acres.

Expansion opponents have banded together as Not One More Acre! - a very apt description of our attitude toward Pinon Canyon expansion, a truly bad plan.

The Army has run roughshod over the ranchers and townspeople in the area since the original Pinon Canyon acquisition in the 1980s. Army officials reneged on promises that the maneuver site would lead to more local jobs and economic development. It simply hasn't happened.

How do the folks at Fort Carson think their neighbors in eastern El Paso County would react to that kind of treatment? We suspect the response there would be "not in my backyard." Residents of Southeastern Colorado deserve far better treatment than they've gotten from the Army.

The Army should get the message and drop plans for expanding the use and size of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.

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