Pinon Canyon funding ban removed after 4 years

The House appropriations subcommittee in charge of military construction passed its 2012 budget bill this week and for the first time in four years, it no longer blocks the Army from spending money to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site northeast of Trinidad. The funding ban — authored by former Colorado Reps. John Salazar and Marilyn Musgrave in 2007 — has been an enormous roadblock to the Army in its long campaign to expand the 235,000-acre training range in Las Animas County. News that the funding ban had been removed from the annual military construction budget was alarming to the ranchers who have battled against giving the Army any additional land around Pinon Canyon since 2006. But when Salazar lost his re-election bid to Tipton last fall and Democrats lost the House majority, many lawmakers who had been friendly to the Pinon Canyon ranchers lost office or positions of authority in the House committee process. "We're deeply disappointed that this has happened," said Lon Robertson, a Kim area rancher and president of the Pinon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition. "Mr. Tipton told us he intended to keep the moratorium in place while he worked for a long-term solution. We'd told him that we'd support him if he'd support us, so we weren't expecting this. I hope he intends to restore the funding moratorium." Jim Harrell, a board member of the Not 1 More Acre! group, said the ranchers have depended on that funding ban to stop the Army for four years. "Without it, all we're left with is the Army telling us they aren't interested in expanding for another five years," Harrell said. "That's not good enough. We need that ban restored just like it was written four years ago and we want it back in the budget bill when the committee meets next Tuesday."...more

Dem's worked to protect private property which is now in jeopardy because of the Repub's. How do you like them apples?