PCEOC

Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition

We ask everyone to help us show our appreciation to Governor Ritter for signing HB1317 yesterday.

As you would expect the signing wasn't met with 100% approval.

Please be sure to send him a note thanking him and counter the negative words of the 'vocal minority' that would like for everyone to think HB1317 was wrong - - - -

IT WAS THE RIGHT THING AT THE RIGHT TIME FOR THE RIGHT REASONS!

Bill Ritter, Governor
136 State Capital
Denver, CO 80203-1792
Phone: (303) 866-2471
Fax: (303) 866-2003
Web Page:http://www.colorado.gov/governor/
________________________________________________________________________

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Ritter nixes state land for Army expansion

Bill Ritter

Governor signs Pinon Canyon legislation as a safety valve (net) for landowners.

By CHARLES ASHBY
CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU

June 02, 2009 11:06 pm

DENVER - Gov. Bill Ritter on Tuesday signed a measure barring the State Land Board from selling or leasing land to the U.S. Army to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Southeastern Colorado.

The governor said he wanted landowners there to have a safety valve.

While the measure Ritter signed, HB1317, by no means guarantees that the Army won't expand its training site, it gives ranchers and farmers in the area some assurance the military won't be able to do it so easily, the governor said.

"There are those who would say this is an anti-military or an anti-veterans bill, and I don't see it that way at all," Ritter said during a bill-signing ceremony in the Capitol. "The military's a key part of Colorado's cultural fabric and a crucial economic driver for all of Colorado. We're doing everything we can to ensure we're fully serving the tens of thousands of military personnel and their families.

"At the same time, our farmers and ranchers are equally vital to Colorado's future," Ritter added. "They have been understandably nervous about what the future holds, and I believe this bill provides those farmers and ranchers with some level of stability and security."

The measure, introduced by Reps. Sal Pace, D-Pueblo, Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, and Sen. Ken Kester, R-Las Animas, blocks the State Land Board from turning over any state-owned land
to any federal agency if the national government would use that land to aid in the expansion of the 238,000-acre training site.

In 2006, the Army announced plans to expand the site northeast of Trinidad by about 400,000 acres. It since has scaled back that proposal to about 100,000 acres, but still has faced stiff resistance from landowners.

The land board controls thousands of acres throughout the state, including tracts that dot the region surrounding the Pinon Canyon site. The state earns money from those lands primarily for public education through mineral leases and grazing rights.

"The reason we took a stand on Pinon Canyon at the state level and ran HB1317 was to protect private property rights of landowners in Colorado, none of whom in the expansion area ever has said they would sell their land," Pace said. "Quite contrary, farmers and ranchers in Southeastern Colorado want to stay on their land, and they want their kids and grandkids to live on their lands for generations."

U.S. Rep. Betsy Markey, D-Colo., said she intended to work with U.S. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., to put language in the 2010 defense authorization bill that would permanently block the future expansion of Pinon Canyon.

"I'm delighted Governor Ritter signed this bill," she said Tuesday.

Several Republican members of Congress and gubernatorial candidates had called on the governor to veto the measure, saying it would send the wrong message that the military isn't wanted in Colorado.

U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, the Republican who represents Colorado Springs, said the Pinon Canyon bill was "making things worse for Colorado."

President Barack Obama's 2010 defense budget plan calls for canceling plans to station a fifth brigade at Fort Carson and Lamborn said other states are scrambling to attract two Army brigades scheduled to return from Europe this year.

"Governor Ritter is making things worse," Lamborn said in a statement Tuesday. "Today he signed into law a bill that takes the unprecedented action of barring the state land board from selling or leasing land to the U.S. Army, though the board is free to do so to anyone else."

For his part, Ritter said the Army has yet to make a plausible case for needing the additional training land, adding that federal audits of Army training sites in the state show it isn't necessary to fulfill its mission.

"I would bet everybody behind me wants our military to be well-trained," Ritter said, referring to the dozen ranchers from the region who traveled to Denver to attend the bill-signing ceremony.

"But having said that, you have to make the case about the training ground," Ritter said. "The Army has made some serious missteps at the very beginning. Since then . . . they have not adequately made their case."

Opponents of expansion hailed the governor's decision to sign the measure.

Lon Robertson, head of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said the signing was consistent with the governor's decision in 2007 to sign a measure making it harder for the Army to use eminent domain to option private land.

"We are very pleased that Governor Ritter has signed this legislation into law to help eliminate a back-door approach that could have been used to expand Pinon Canyon," Robertson said. "We have held the expansion off by staying together as a community, but the struggle is far from over."

Staff writer Peter Roper contributed to this report.

cashby@chieftain.com

PCEOC

www.pinoncanyon.com

PCEOC

www.pinoncanyon.com

Ritter nixes state land for Army expansion

Governor signs Pinon Canyon legislation as a safety valve (net) for landowners.

By CHARLES ASHBY CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU

By CHARLES ASHBY
CHIEFTAIN DENVER BUREAU