Colorado Springs and El Paso County officials say they are ready to move on from the fight over Space Command. 

While the Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser intends to keep suing President Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to move Space Command headquarters to Huntsville, Ala., the Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC president and CEO Johnna Reeder Kleymeyer said Wednesday the community will formally oppose the legal fight in a legal filing called an amicus brief.  

The interests of Colorado Springs and El Paso were not considered in the filing of the lawsuit, she said, and the brief will lay out the community’s position. 

“We did not ask for it. We did not want it, and we made the Attorney General’s Office aware of this,” she said, adding the lawsuit has no merit and is motivated by Weiser’s political self-interest. The lawsuit was filed in October after Trump announced in September that Space Command headquarters would relocate to Huntsville. 

While keeping Space Command in Colorado Springs is in the best interest of taxpayers and national security, the Chamber and local leaders respect Trump’s decision to move Space Command to Huntsville, Reeder Kleymeyer said. Both the Colorado Springs City Council and the El Paso County commissioners voted to support the amicus brief.

Space Command draws on members from across the military service branches to protect the U.S. interests in space. If Space Command relocated, approximately 1,000 jobs would move to Alabama. The relocation process could cost billions.

But after five years of fighting, it’s time to move on and focus on competing for future military investments, Reeder Kleymeyer said. Colorado’s space and aerospace industries are expecting to see significant contracts to help build Golden Dome, a new missile defense system. 

Representatives from the Colorado Springs City Council, El Paso County Commission, and business community appeared alongside Reeder Kleymeyer at the event. 

Mayor Yemi Mobolade did not attend the news conference, instead issuing a statement that did not pick sides. 

“I have been clear about my disappointment with the relocation decision. At the same time, I respect the President’s constitutional authority to make military basing decisions, just as I respect the responsibility of state leaders to pursue the legal strategies they believe are appropriate,” he said. 

He went on to say that he respects the president’s decision to make basing decisions just as he respects the court’s authority to test those decisions. 

On Tuesday, Weiser said that he would not back down in his fight to keep Space Command in Colorado. 

“It is my duty to protect our state and defend our rights,” he said.

Weiser argues in his lawsuit that moving Space Command headquarters in retaliation for mail-in voting violates the Constitution’s separation of powers because states alone have the power to regulate elections. 

Trump said during the announcement that he had a big problem with Colorado’s mail-in voting system, and that played a “big factor” in his decision to move the headquarters. 

A draft of the brief points out that if politicians use political factors to make their decisions, it does not make them unconstitutional. The law office of Wayne Williams, a former Colorado Springs City Councilman and Republican Secretary of State, wrote the brief. 

The brief also points out that in the original basing process, Colorado ranked poorly when it came to the area’s cost of living and housing affordability. 

Local officials have worked to address those concerns. In recent years, Colorado Springs builders have added a substantial number of new housing units, Reeder Kleymeyer said. A popular online platform to search for rental units, Zillow lists almost 4,000 homes for rent for $2,000 a month or less.

In the future, Reeder Kleymeyer said she expects the chamber to work on building a partnership with Huntsville, and they have already planned a trip to Huntsville this fall as part of that process. The Chamber’s research shows that 50 companies have locations in both towns, she said.   

“In Colorado Springs and El Paso County, we are looking forward,” she said.