Join us & show support in Pueblo for Pinon Canyon Ranchers 
We will be hosting a press conference on "The Piņon Canyon Landowner and School Protection Act" this Sunday, March 29th at 2 PM at the Pueblo County Courthouse.  Please come join me, Representative McKinley & local ranchers to show your support for protecting Southeastern Colorado's land & livelihood.

Protecting Piņon Canyon 

James Madison proposed the Third Amendment of the US Constitution on September 5th, 1789 to prevent the quartering of troops in any house without consent of the owner.  The Founders had seen the British abuse the "Quartering Act" and knew it threatened Americans liberties.

Last week I introduced House Bill 1317, "The Piņon Canyon Landowner and School Protection Act," along with Representative Wes McKinley (D-Walsh) and Senator Ken Kester (R-Las Animas). Landowners in Southeastern Colorado have been fighting attempts by the Federal Government for the past four years to take their land to expand the Army's Piņon Canyon Maneuver Site.  Our legislation would protect landowners from the federal government by prohibiting the sale of State Land Board land for the expansion. It will also direct the Colorado Attorney General's office to fight any attempt by the Army to condemn those sections of state land. State Land Board land surrounds Piņon Canyon and is designated for funding Colorado's schools through leasing. That land has been owned by Colorado since the inception of statehood. A large portion of the land that the Army has designated for future expansion is State Land Board land. 
  
The State of Colorado should take a proactive stance to protect the private property rights of farmers and ranchers in southeastern Colorado.  Prohibiting the state sale of school lands will prevent any further unwanted eminent domain grab of private lands, which would destroy an important and treasured way of life in southern Colorado.

Piņon Canyon expansion has come under scrutiny locally and nationally. Local landowners, mostly ranchers, know that Piņon Canyon expansion can only occur through forced removal from their land through eminent domain and condemnation. In 2007, the Colorado General Assembly voted to remove consent for the federal government's use of eminent domain to expand Piņon Canyon. That same year, Congress voted 383-34 for the Musgrave/Salazar amendment, which blocked federal dollars from going toward the expansion.  However, the Army still pushes ahead. 

There simply has not been any demonstrated need for expansion.  The Department of Defense's own BRACC report in 2005 stated that the Army already had sufficient training facilities in Southeastern Colorado.  Just this year, the federal nonpartisan Government Accountability Office conducted a study which criticizes a lack of a proven need for expansion.   

Local citizens don't trust the Army.  Initial Army planning maps showed the Army obtaining 2 million acres in the region.  The current 100,000 acre proposed expansion is referred in the Army report as "stage 1" acquisition.  When the Army first created the existing Piņon Canyon in 1982, they promised they would never have live-fire of ammunition, they promised local jobs and they promised never to expand.  All of these are broken promises!

The only argument I've heard to support expansion is that if we don't give them our land then someday Fort Carson might not have continued growth.  I don't believe this is the case; but if we as citizens give up our liberties because of threats from our government then James Madison is definitely rolling in his grave.