[CPEO-MEF] EXPANSION: Judge rejects Pinon Canyon (CO) plan

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Ranchers wait to hear what's next for Pinon Canyon

By COLLEEN SLEVIN, Associated Press Writer
Denver Post (CO)
September 9, 2009

DENVER - Ranchers are waiting to hear what the Army will do next after a 
federal judge rejected its plans to increase operations at a training 
site in southeastern Colorado.

U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch ruled Tuesday that the Army's 
environmental review didn't adequately assess the effects of possibly 
increasing training to 365 days a year at the Pinon Canyon Maneuver 
Site. He said the Army only vaguely described how the land would be 
used, and the decision to increase training was arbitrary because it 
relied on a flawed environmental review.

The Army uses the 238,000-acre site about four months a year, and has 
proposed expanding it by 100,000 acres to accommodate an increase in 
soldiers at Fort Carson. Matsch's ruling dealt only with the Army's plan 
to increase training on the existing site, including adding a live 
hand-grenade range, constructing a medical clinic and other support 
buildings, and upgrading roads.

Andrew Ames, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, which 
represented the Army in the case, said Matsch's opinion is being 
reviewed and no decision has been made about what to do next.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_13293850

--


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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