Army urges judge to dismiss lawsuit

Army officials insist they acted properly in doing a 2007 environmental study of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site and argue that a lawsuit from ranchers in U.S. district court in Denver claiming otherwise should be dismissed. The Army filed those comments last Friday in response to a lawsuit by the Not 1 More Acre group that is opposing the planned expansion of the 235,000-acre training area northeast of Trinidad. The opponents claim the Army's 2007 analysis looking at doing more training at the current Pinon Canyon site failed to adequately look at other training alternatives or the environmental impact of current use. The lawsuit is being argued before Senior Judge Richard Matsch and the Army's filing on Friday was its first response to the lawsuit. Essentially, the Army's answer to the lawsuit is twofold: ranching opponents failed to raise these claims during the public comment period on the environmental study and, secondly, the Army did not need to do more extensive analysis on other training options because there is no "excess" training space at other Army posts....