Ritter signs bill against Piñon

DENVER - Opponents of the proposed expansion of Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site celebrated Gov. Bill Ritter’s signing of a bill making it harder Thursday but admitted the battle to preserve 418,000 acres of ranchland is far from over.

House Bill 1069 states Colorado does not consent to the federal government’s tripling the size of the Fort Carson training area by condemning land or having exclusive jurisdiction over the land.

Army officials have said they are in the early stages of studying the expansion plan.

As he signed it before a crowd of about 100 people from southeastern Colorado, Ritter admitted that the state may not have the power to enforce it.

“I don’t want to raise expectations, because I don’t know at the end of the day if we can truly stop the Army from using the power of eminent domain,” the first-year Democratic governor said. “I believe this is a tool for us to use.”

Lon Robertson, president of the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition, said the grass-roots group that has pushed the measure now must work on Colorado’s congressional delegation. Reps. Marilyn Musgrave and John Salazar have agreed to ask the Army to look elsewhere to expand, but all of the delegation’s strength must be mustered, Robertson said.

“We talk about having a lot of arrows in your quiver. This is bigger,” he said of the governor’s signature on the bill, which received little opposition outside the Colorado Springs delegation. “Maybe it’s having a spear point in your quiver.”

Republican Congressman Doug Lamborn, who represents Colorado Springs, said in a statement that he supports the Army’s decision to investigate the expansion in Las Animas County, but that he hopes any expansion would protect the private-property rights of landowners.

Ranchers and farmers whose families have been on the land for generations near small towns such as Kim made the 470-mile round-trip trek to the Capitol several times during the session to testify that condemnation of their properties would destroy a rural lifestyle and hurt Colorado’s economy.

Katelyn Karney, a La Junta High School junior whose family farm lies within the proposed expansion area, admitted Thursday that it was a “far-fetched thing” at first to think that a majority of legislators would sign on to a bill to fight the federal government. But momentum built the more that people talked about property rights and questioned why the Army needed to add the land to the 253,000 acres it already owns at the site.

“It’s a clear message to the United States Congress to keep your hands off our land,” said Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Coal Creek Canyon, at a rally before the signing.

The rally featured cookies, lemonade and tunes from a four-piece cowboy band headed by the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh.

CONTACT THE WRITER: (303)837-0613 or ed.sealover@gazette.com