DENVER (AP) -- The secretary of the Army has told Colorado's senators that the military has no plans to expand a training site in southeast Colorado for at least five years.
Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Democrats, released a letter from John McHugh on Tuesday. The letter says the Army is no longer trying to add to the 370-square-mile Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site.
It is the highest-level assurance to date that the Army has dropped its expansion plans. In January, Fort Carson's acting commander told the Pueblo Chieftain that no expansion was planned.
Farmers and ranchers near the site have waged a campaign to block the expansion, saying it could take so much land out of agricultural use that the local economy could suffer.
Fort Carson troops train at Pinon Canyon.
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