If the military has it's way, the Pinon Canyon Maneuvar Site will become the world's largest live-fire range, destroying the irreplaceable natural, historical and cultural treasures of Southeastern Colorado forever. We fully support our men and women in uniform, however, we firmly opposed to the DOD's plan to acquire additional land amounting to an area larger than the state of Connecticut. It's
Dear Senator Allard,
We the undersigned respectfully ask you to please reconsider your legislation which would allow the Army to move forward with the purchase of land to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site(PCMS), something we were promised would never happen, and stop their use of Live Fire, as we were promised, this too, would never happen. Instead, please support an extension of the ban on spending for the acquisition of land durning the 2009 budget year and beyond.
You have announced plans to propose legislation which would prevent the Army from using eminent domain, but your bill would also give the Army the go-ahead to buy land in Phase 1 A of their 18 year acquisition plan. That would be a disaster for Southeastern Colorado. While the vision of the military taking the property of American citizens is no doubt the most abhorrent aspect of the proposed expansion, there are so many other questions which must be answered.
Please don't reward the Army for defying the Congressional ban on spending for Pinon Canyon expansion. The moratorium on spending for the project was enacted by over a 90% majority of the House of representatives and by a bi-partisan majority in the Senate. The Army ignored this ban and has continued to pursue their expansion plan.
The Army promised to be good stewards of the land and cultural resources and they have failed to report protection and mitigation of sensitive archaeological and historical sites and failed to file their required scheduled reports in a timely manner to the State Historic Preservation Office.
We ask you to assert the principle of civilian control and oversight of the military. Don't give the Army legislation which would empower them to expand Pinon Canyon Maneuver site, please require them to follow the law that you enacted last year, to obtain careful studies. As you know there are numerous pre-historic Indian sites, petroglyphs, dinosour tracks, a vast array of wildlife not to mention towns, schools and cemeteries that would be forever lost to the famlies who homesteaded there.
