Second Regular Session
Sixty-first General Assembly
LLS NO. R980565.01 GWF
STATE OF COLORADO
State, Veterans and
Military Affairs
BY SENATOR Thiebaut
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 98-013
CONCERNING THE COLORADO AIRSPACE INITIATIVE.
WHEREAS, The Colorado General Assembly is committed
to the preservation of Colorado's pristine and heavilyused
public lands and to the protection of residents, landowners, and
their property in areas adjacent to those public lands; and
WHEREAS, The Colorado Air National Guard and the
Air National Guard Readiness Center have proposed a new airspace
training program referred to as the "Colorado Airspace Initiative",
which would expand La Veta Military Operation Area (MOA) and associated
Military Training Routes (MTRs) in South Central Colorado; and
WHEREAS, The deafening noise and the sonic booms
produced by the military jets flying at low altitudes already
frighten residents, visitors, livestock, and wildlife in the La
Veta MOA and in the surrounding areas; and
WHEREAS, The flight training operations associated
with the proposed new La Veta MOA and associated MTRs will further
destroy the peace and quiet in federally designated wilderness
areas and other natural areas and will endanger the health and
wellbeing of residents living near and under the proposed
new La Veta MOA and associated MTRs; and
WHEREAS, Military training associated with the Colorado
Airspace Initiative will have a disproportionate impact on certain
rural regions of the state that derive no economic benefit from
such military activities but instead incur significant economic
damage due to the military units conducting that training; and
WHEREAS, The Colorado Air National Guard will not
be the only user of airspace set aside for the Colorado Airspace
Initiative, as military air units from other states and foreign
nations will be authorized to conduct military training in such
airspace; and
WHEREAS, Environmental study documents issued by
the proponents of the Colorado Airspace Initiative do not adequately
assess the impacts of, or consider the need for, the initiative
and fail to consider other, less damaging alternatives; and
WHEREAS, The new La Veta MOA and associated MTRs
are opposed by a wide variety of concerned groups and individuals;
and
WHEREAS, The Colorado Air National Guard's proposal
is almost unanimously opposed by the people who are living in
the region to be affected by the proposal; and
WHEREAS, People who are living in the region to be
affected by the proposal are angry and frustrated with the manner
in which their lives and their property have been adversely affected
by military training flights; and
WHEREAS, Implementing the La Veta MOA program will
be disastrous for tourism, the economy, and the environment in
the affected region; and
WHEREAS, The flight training operations associated
with the proposed new La Veta MOA will reduce the value of and
limit the ability to use property near and under the proposed
new La Veta MOA; and
WHEREAS, The Colorado General Assembly is concerned
with both the rights of affected property and livestock owners
and the ability of the state to compensate property owners for
any takings or losses that may occur as a result of the proposed
flight training operations; and
WHEREAS, Property owners who are able to demonstrate that their property values have been adversely affected by the proposed new La Veta MOA may file claims against the state in accordance with existing law seeking just compensation for the reduction in their property values; now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixtyfirst
General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives
concurring herein:
That the Colorado General Assembly expresses its
strong opposition to the proposed new airspace training program
referred to as the Colorado Airspace Initiative, which would include
the expansion of La Veta Military Operation Area and associated
Military Training Routes in South Central Colorado.
Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to the Colorado Air National Guard, the Federal Aviation Administration, the United States Department of Defense, and the Governor of the State of Colorado urging them to take all necessary and appropriate action to halt the Colorado Airspace Initiative and to consider not only the negative effects of the proposed program on the people, property, livestock, economy, environment, and wildlife in the southern region of the state, but also the potential legal and fiscal consequences of further pursuing the program.