Wahoo! Tipton gets Pinon Canyon funding ban reinstated - From the Pueblo Chieftain.....

Tipton gets Pinon Canyon funding ban reinstated

By PETER ROPER | proper@chieftain.com | Posted: Monday, May 23, 2011 6:19 pm
   Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., has convinced the  chairman of a crucial House appropriations subcommittee to restore the annual funding ban that has blocked the Army from spending any money to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site for the past four years.
   Rep. John Culverson, R-Texas, is expected to restore the funding ban to the 2012 military construction budget when it is considered by the full House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday. Culverson chairs the military construction subcommittee and his backing of the Pinon Canyon moratorium almost certainly guarantees the ban will remain in place.
   For Tipton, the new GOP congressman in the 3rd Congressional District, the funding ban has been a critical issue because it has been the centerpiece of the opposition to the Army's controversial efforts to expand the 235,000-acre training site northeast of Trinidad.
   Tipton inherited the ban from former Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., and ranchers opposed to the Army's efforts were gravely concerned last week when they learned that the military construction subcommittee had not retained it in the 2012 military construction budget they drafted a week ago. The ban has been in place since 2008.
  Tipton was under close scrutiny by those ranchers because he'd promised to defend the funding ban until some kind of long-term agreement could be reached between the Army and the ranching community over Pinon Canyon.

Congressman Titpton to hold Town Hall on Pinon Canyon tomorrow night

From his office: "Rep. Scott Tipton to Hold Town Hall Meeting on April 26th in Trinidad; Following a tour of Pinon Canyon (and Fort Carson) during the day, Rep. Scott Tipton will host a town hall meeting to TO DISCUSS PINON CANYON and other important issues, and take questions from constituents.
When: Tuesday, April 26th, from 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Where: Sullivan Student Center, TSJC

Please attend......... we're not sure what exactly is being pushed so of course our eyebrows are raised.........

So we haven't received word from Mr. Tipton on the exact nature of this visit - 

We do know he's talking to three individual commissioners from three local counties while at the site,and wanting them to also visit Fort Carson and then fly down to the maneuver site.  (we have no qualms about the commissioners meeting with them - and trust those commissioners will stand fast with no expansion positions).

We do know when a staffer was asked if he wanted to speak to the landowners around the current site as part of his 'tour' his staffer advised that 'if they want to talk to Tipton they can come to the Town Hall meeting.'

So yes, we're a bit on edge - will you attend with us?

Army not providing all the facts? Doug Holdread Blog

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)

PCEOC Position Unchanged regardless of Army letter - NPR Story on same

PCEOC Release in response to letter of 5 yrs without money promise

NPR Story April 6, 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. 

Stories on Pinon Canyon

The Pueblo Chieftain - Udall and Bennet ask Army to put it in writing
The Westerner Blog on Pinon Canyon
West Word continues good articles explaining Pinon Canyon issue