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Rocky Mountain News

Colo. military funds up for vote in Senate

Bill gives state $500 million, most in 10 years

A U.S. Senate committee votes today on whether Colorado moves one step closer to more than $500 million for military construction, money that would pay for everything from beds for veterans to dental care for active duty soldiers.

The funds are part of the 2008 Military Construction Appropriations bill expected to be approved today by the Senate Appropriations Committee, according to committee member U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Loveland.

The funding bill, which Allard spokesman Steve Wymer said contains the largest amount for Colorado in at least a decade, would come up for full Senate consideration later this year.

"Colorado remains a top priority for defense and military construction spending, and these dollar amounts reflect that," Allard said.

Most of the $529.6 million would go for expansion at Fort Carson, which is in the midst of a five-year, $2 billion building blitz to accommodate 8,000 to 12,000 more troops and their 18,000 family members. The arrival this year of the 4th Infantry Division will help push Fort Carson troops to about 25,000, post spokeswoman Dee McNutt said.

Among other projects on the list are the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, to be built on 31 acres at the old Fitzsimons Army Hospital site, and cleanup efforts at the Pueblo Chemical Depot.

The VA hospital, which will replace the 57-year-old building in Denver, has a stop-and-start relationship with Fitzsimons. The site there was initially deemed too small. But Jim Nicholson, who became U.S. secretary of veterans affairs two years ago, agreed to revive the project, which is scheduled to open in 2011.

Its 1.4 million square feet will include medical, surgical and in-patient wards, mental health in-patient treatment facilities and special units for spinal cord injuries.

"Funding these key military and veterans facility projects will ensure that our government lives up to its promise to take care of its military families and war heroes," said U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colorado.

The $35 million for the Pueblo depot would begin building the long-delayed $1.6 billion disposal facility to destroy 780,000 mortar rounds and artillery shells filled with aging mustard gas. The site is one of only two in the United States that doesn't have an incinerator or water-based neutralization plant.

Under federal law, the 2,600 tons of munitions at Pueblo cannot be transported to any other facility for destruction. A treaty requires the United States to destroy all of its chemical weapons by 2012, but military specialists estimate that getting rid of Pueblo's stockpile could take until 2020.

Where the appropriations will go

Colorado's proposed share of military construction money:

• Fort Carson

$373.9 million

Part of a five-year, $2 billion expansion to handle 8,000 to 12,000 more troops. Includes $90 million for a brigade combat team complex and $20 million for a division headquarters complex, both for the 4th Infantry Division, which is moving from Fort Hood; $72 million for unit operation facilities; $54 million for a troop outpatient health and dental clinic; $53 million for barracks construction; and $27 million for an addition to Evans Army Hospital with more beds for maternity, psychiatric and emergency care.

• Fitzsimons Veterans Affairs Medical Center

$61.3 million

A piece of the more than $658 million needed to build a VA hospital on 31 acres at Fitzsimons in Aurora. It's expected to serve 70,000 veterans throughout the Rocky Mountain region when it is completed in 2011.

• Pueblo Chemical Depot

$35.16 million

To begin construction of a facility to destroy 2,600 tons of mortar rounds and artillery shells filled with aging mustard gas.

• Colorado Air Force installations

$59.24 million

Includes $24.5 million for an air and space integration facility at Schriever Air Force Base, which will house Air Force Space Command's lead units for space innovation; $15 million to improve academic facilities at the U.S. Air Force Academy, including renovation of the cadet library and lecture halls and removal of asbestos and lead paint; $17.38 million for infrastructure improvements and replacing the facility that houses F-16s of the 140th Air Wing of the Colorado National Guard at Buckley Air Force Base; and $2.36 million for an office building at Peterson Air Force Base.Source: 2008 Military Construction Appropriations Bill; U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar'S Office.

ryckmanl@RockyMountainNews.com