May 11, 2007 04:14 PM UTC

PiГ±on Canyon Residents Angry At Udall

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Rocky Mountain News reports:

U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Colo., called Thursday for strict limits on the Army’s planned expansion of its Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site, but was assailed later in the day by residents who face losing their land to the expansion.

The Army announced in February that it wants to acquire 418,000 acres to expand its 238,000-acre maneuver site between Trinidad and La Junta.

The Democratic congressman from Eldorado Springs introduced legislation Thursday that would require the Army to meet several conditions before it could invoke eminent domain to force southeastern Colorado ranchers and farmers from their land.

Udall also called for congressional hearings on the expansion.

But Udall’s actions were attacked as betraying the Coloradans he was elected to represent and opening the way for the Army to proceed with condemnation plans.

Instead of halting or impeding the expansion, Udall’s measure was attached to a bill that actually provides funding for the Army’s plan, said an angry Lon Robertson, president of a rancher and farmer group called the Piñon Canyon Expansion Opposition Coalition. [Pols emphasis]

“He should be helping to ensure there is no funding and no expansion, now or in the future,” Robertson said.

“This is a guy who wants to represent the people of Colorado as a senator but he won’t come down to meet the families or see the places his bill will help destroy,” said Robertson.

Not a smart move for Udall, on an issue that has united Colorado political factions from the Democrat-controlled Assembly to Rep. Marilyn Musgrave. Eminent domain in general and the Piñon Canyon expansion in particular is not something Democrats want to be on the wrong side of next year. We expect Udall’s advisors are urgently discussing that with him this morning.