Army drops appeal of Pinon Canyon ruling

The Army has dropped its appeal of a federal court ruling in September that rejected a 2007 environmental study intended to justify sending more troops, more often to train at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site northeast of Trinidad. The motion to dismiss was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. Justice Department lawyers handling the case refused to comment on the decision. Not 1 More Acre!, the rancher group that filed the lawsuit over the 2007 environmental study, wasn't as reserved Tuesday. "We knew we had a good case to start with so it surprised us the Army was even appealing the district court decision," Mack Louden, a board member of the group said Tuesday. "We keep winning all the battles (with the Army) but it's the war over Pinon Canyon that we're worried about." In September, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch set aside the 2007 environmental study, calling it severely inadequate for justifying the Army's plan to send even more troops, more often to train at the 238,000-acre Pinon Canyon range. While the Army's long-term plan is to expand Pinon Canyon, they had conducted the 2007 study to look at the impact of training more troops on the current site. Matsch vacated the study and the Army's "Record of Decision" to boost the training schedule for Pinon Canyon. Matsch said the Army's own reports, which were uncovered by the lawsuit, showed Pinon Canyon had suffered environmental damage in the past after more modest training exercises. Matsch said the Army's contention it could mitigate damage from even heavier use of the land at Pinon Canyon was contradicted by its own documents...read more