COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Colorado congressman Mike Coffman says he's trying to help the Army expand a training site in southeast Colorado by banning the military from seizing the land it needs.
The Republican lawmaker has introduced a bill that would prohibit acquiring land through condemnation to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. The bill would make official the Army's pledge that it won't seize land to add 100,000 acres to the existing 235,000-acre site.
Area residents have opposed the Army's expansion plans out of fear that private property will be condemned, land taken out of agricultural production and the local economy harmed.
Democratic Rep. John Salazar, whose district includes the training site, has led efforts in the House to ban funding for the project.
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