Squeeze over a Colorado canyon
October 29, 2007
Tom Warren’s vision is Lon Robertson’s nightmare. Warren, Fort Carson, Colo.’s director of environmental compliance and management, sees a range in southeastern Colorado where two Heavy Brigade Combat Teams (HBCTs) can be kept ready for deployment anywhere in the world.
Lon Robertson sees 120mm rounds landing where he grazes 120 head of cattle, and tanks running at 30 mph over his general store in Kim, Colo.
Both are looking at a proposed 418,577-acre expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, 150 miles from Fort Carson and a part of that post’s training future. When combined with the current 235,896 acres of training space there, the Piñon Canyon site would become the Army’s largest training ground.
“The deal about Piñon is looking to the future,” Warren said. “If all of the planets align properly, we’ll be able to put two HBCTs in the field at one time, have everybody [qualified] on weapons and be ready to go.”
Robertson, who heads up the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, would like for them to go now — somewhere else.
“The government already has 37 percent of the land in Colorado,” he said. “It has 83 percent of the land in Nevada. Why couldn’t they train in Nevada?”
Time and expense are the reasons given. Moving an HBCT to a training site out of state could take weeks and add to soldiers’ time away from home. And moving the unit between Fort Carson and Piñon Canyon already costs $750,000, so the military shudders at the idea of training commutes over the Rockies.
Piñon Canyon would go a long way toward addressing a 2-million-acre shortfall in Army training space. Much of that shortfall is attributed to a need for more space to exercise improved weaponry and more maneuverable vehicles.
The Army says two HCBTs need about 320,000 acres to operate.
Warren sees a complete change in how Piñon Canyon would operate. The current site, acquired in 1983, was a maneuver area with no live firing. An amendment to the agreement permitted firing ammunition up to .50 caliber.
“We want to go right on up to the M1A2 [main battle tank]” Warren said. That would involve 120mm guns.
With that future in mind, in February, the Defense Department made Piñon Canyon the lone exception to its 16-year-old moratorium on major land acquisitions.
Ranchers responded by lobbying Colorado’s legislature — normally military-friendly — to come out foursquare against the Army’s move.
Then they went to Congress, where Democratic Rep. John Salazar and Republican Rep. Marilyn Musgrave attached an amendment to the 2008 Military Construction Appropriations bill that said none of the money could go toward the Piñon Canyon expansion project.
Everywhere, “eminent domain” has been mentioned. The words make legislators recoil and put the military on the defensive. About half of the original Piñon Canyon site was acquired through condemnation, but the Army says it wants willing sellers this time.
It could be hard-pressed to find them.
“This isn’t just a military issue, it’s a food issue,” Robertson said. “Do we want to have to buy food from China or raise it ourselves? The Pentagon should be able to use the land they have for training and let us alone to grow food.” å
— Jim Hodges