Lawmakers offer bill to block state land sale to Army

State Reps. Sal Pace and Wes McKinley plan to offer a bill next week to prevent the State Land Board from selling any of its lands to the Army for expanding the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site northeast of Trinidad. The two Democrats are opposed to the proposed expansion and said the 238,000-acre training site has many parcels of state land around it, including land inside the 70,000-acre ranch owned by Denver businessman Craig Walker directly south of Pinon Canyon. Rep. John Salazar, D-Colo., confirmed this week that Army officials want to acquire or lease that property, although Walker has insisted he is not negotiating with the Army and does not want to sell. When Colorado was established as a state, the land was plotted into 36-square mile "townships." In each township, two sections of a square-mile each, were set aside as state land for supporting public schools. The State Land Board oversees those lands, among others. According to the most recent state maps, there are roughly 20,000 acres of State Board Land in the region south of Pinon Canyon that the Army has targeted for expansion. Pace, elected in November to Pueblo's House District 46, said that if the Army acquires the Walker property or other land around Pinon Canyon, the State Land Board would have to consider selling its holdings. That's what the state did in the 1980s when the Army created Pinon Canyon. "We want to make sure they don't sell that land to the Army for Pinon Canyon," Pace said Wednesday. He noted that a second part of the legislation would require the Colorado attorney general's office to contest any attempt by the Army to condemn those sections of state land...Pueblo Chieftain

And for those who may have missed it, here is a comment from "Anonymous" that was posted yesterday:

Sounds like the RangeMan been sippin’ a little too much of that there left over DEE-CAM koolaid!

Seriously, at the end of the day, in this new era of transparency perhaps the American taxpaying public will finally learn the truth as to who actually masterminded the proposal to expand this under-utilized training facility. In 1983, Army agreed they wouldn’t come back for more after the first eminent domain condemnation a “Treaty” of sorts and this rogue Warren has always known that was the agreement.

In 2003, less than 20 years later, he sets this expansion plan in motion behind closed doors and sells his conceptual plan through the bubba-network to the Army powers that be without involving or considering all of the affected adjacent landowners.

If the Army can justify its needs for more space to conduct multi-force “real world” training, I hear tell Navy has a 45 square mile piece of real estate off the coast of Florida with an ocean view they won’t be needing anymore. Comes complete with a Treaty in place, buildings, a “potable” water supply and a wider variety of terrain to simulate real world multi-force training applications! According to the new administration, it should be available within a year! Plenty of room for expansion there!

I invite "Anonymous" to email me with more info and details that I could publish. If he's not comfortable with that, post more in the comments section. We would love to hear from you. Educate me and the readers of this blog.