August 04, 2008
McKinley Demands Army Cease Attempts to Expand Piņon Canyon Maneuver Site
(DENVER) In response to the recent news that the U.S. Army hopes to acquire 100,000 more acres in the southeast Colorado, State Representative Wes McKinley (D-Walsh) released a letter that he has sent to Pete Geren, Secretary of the Army, and to Keith Eastin, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations and Environment.
The letter asks the Army to cease any attempts to expand the Piņon Canyon Maneuver Site (PCMS).
McKinley, a long-time foe of the PCMS expansion whose House district encompasses all of the current and proposed PCMS, cited the Colorado law that he guided through the legislature in 2007.
McKinley's letter states, in part:
"I want the Army to cease efforts to acquire additional land for the site by eminent domain or through any other means.
To expand the site through eminent domain would constitute a clear violation of Colorado Revised Statue 3-1-102. That statute, briefly, reads as follows:
"Except as provided in this section, the consent of the state of Colorado is hereby given, in accordance with section 8 of article I of the constitution of the United States, to the acquisition by the United States, by purchase, condemnation, or otherwise, of any land in state; except that consent is not hereby given to the acquisition of, or exclusive jurisdiction over, land sought by the United States department of defense for purposes associated with the expansion of the Piņon Canyon Maneuver Site."
In addition to existing state statute, Congress will likely restore the Piņon Canyon Maneuver Site funding ban before the end of 2008.
Removal of private property in southeastern Colorado would have a devastating impact on the families who have owned, farmed and ranched this land for generations. Our local economies are dependent on the survival of industry in rural Colorado, and any expansion of Army lands will hurt landowners by diminishing property values in the area.
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