House tentatively OKs limiting Piñon expansion

DENVER - The House today initially approved a plan to bar the state Land Board from selling or leasing property to the U.S. Army for expansion in Piñon Canyon.

The measure is an attempt to stop the Army from expanding its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in southeastern Colorado. It drew strong opposition from lawmakers who say the military needs more land to train soldiers to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Rep. Joe Rice, a Democrat from Littleton who served in Iraq, said he trained at Pinon Canyon. He told his colleagues the expansion is desperately needed to train soldiers to defend themselves during long, boring, dusty rides in the deserts of the Middle East that can quickly turn into an ambush.

Rice said there is not enough land on Fort Carson or its Piñon Canyon site to allow hundreds of vehicles to practice driving in convoys.

Rice read off the names of 11 soldiers killed in Iraq in 2003 when their convoy was ambushed and cited an Army report that determined those soldiers might have been saved if they had better training.

"They need time and distance training. These men died for a lack of training," Rice said.

Rep. Kathleen Curry, D-Gunnison, said she opposed the expansion as a misuse of military authority, claiming the Army is in "borderline contempt of Congress" for continuing expansion plans, despite opposition in Congress.

U.S. Reps. John Salazar and Betsy Markey from Colorado have accused the Army of ignoring a moratorium imposed by Congress in January 2008 on spending for the project.

The Army says it must expand Piñon Canyon to accommodate new weapons, new tactics and additional soldiers.

Opponents say an expansion would hurt the economy by removing land from agricultural production. Area farmers and ranchers say any expansion would destroy their livelihoods.

The bill faces a third reading before it goes to the Senate.