Pinon Canyon plans draw renewed flak

One of the Army's harshest critics over its use of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site has filed an 89-page comment letter that challenges the Army's plan to increase training at the 238,000-acre maneuver area and reads like a lawsuit in waiting. The comment report says the Army's latest environmental study defending its training plan for Pinon Canyon ignores a past federal court decision as well as a four-year congressional ban on new construction at the training area northeast of Trinidad. There is no mistaking the comment report from Not 1 More Acre! reads like a legal brief in its detail and citations and Jean Aguerre, president of the group, said that filing the group's criticisms of the Army environmental study is a required first step before filing any future lawsuits. The deadline for public comment on the Army study was 5 p.m. Friday and Not 1 More Acre! filed its report earlier in the day. "Without our official comments, we wouldn't have the legal standing to go back to court," Aguerre said afterward. Not 1 More Acre! is a group of ranchers and Southern Colorado activists who won a federal lawsuit against the Army in September 2009. That ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch struck down the Army's initial environmental study that was being used to justify a plan to use more troops and a heavier training schedule at the training range northeast of Trinidad. Simply put, Matsch ruled the Army's own documents, studies and training reports showed that Pinon Canyon had experienced significant environmental damage in the past and that heavier use would only do more. In addition, Matsch said the Army's environmental assessment had not made any effort to measure or mitigate that future damage...more