Plum Island panned as site for new lab
Community opposition voiced at public hearing Tuesday night
By Denise Civiletti and Tom Burke
Opposition to Plum Island as the site for a new Biosafety Level 4 foreign animal disease research facility was unanimous at Tuesday night's public hearing on a draft environmental impact statement examining six sites, including Plum Island, as possible locations. The Department of Homeland Security hearing at Greenport School drew a crowd of more than 100 people.
Lining up against the proposal were residents, members of local environmental organizations and elected officials.
Assemblyman Marc Alessi, County Legislator Ed Romaine, Southold Supervisor Scott Russell and Greenport Mayor David Nyce all were on hand to speak out against Plum Island as the site for the new National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility planned by the federal government. Rep. Tim Bishop sent a representative to go on record against the plan for Plum Island, which he and Sen. Hillary Clinton have vocally opposed for the past year, since it was disclosed that the 840-acre island about a mile and a half off the tip of Orient Point was on a "short list" of six sites being considered by DHS for the NBAF.
Also speaking vigorously against the proposal Tuesday night was former congresswoman and part-time Orient resident Elizabeth Holtzman. Citing what she said are inherent risks of such a facility that have not been properly assessed, Ms. Holtzman accused federal officials of "living in fairyland."
The environmental impact statement has "no discussion of the risk to the population caused by a deliberate act," said Ms. Hotlzman, also a former Brooklyn district attorney. "There are crazy people, disgruntled employees, and angry people" who could take action against the facility. She added, "This is too grave a danger to human life."
Major objections cited by people testifying about the proposal included the inherent danger to human health and the economic well-being of the North Fork posed by the study of "incurable" zoonotic diseases; the proximity of the Millstone nuclear power plant to Plum Island (it is eight miles away and Plum Island is in the Nuclear Evacuation Zone); the danger a new facility might pose to children at Oysterponds Elementary School in Orient; the vulnerability of the facility to threats from terrorism and natural disasters; and the challenge of evacuating an area with only two east/west roads.
Community support is a key component in the decision matrix guiding federal officials in site selection, according to documents published by DHS and statements by the agency's representatives.
Each of the other five communities -- in Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas -- submitted bids seeking to be considered as the site for the NBAF, after DHS issued a request for expressions of interest in 2006. They were culled from an initial list of 29 communities that originally expressed interest in hosting the NBAF, based on four criteria: proximity to research capabilities, proximity to workforce, cost of acquisition/construction/operations, and community acceptance. Plum Island was added to the list of finalists in the site selection process last year. DHS officials have said Plum Island was added as "a reasonable alternative" because it is already the site of a BSL-3 lab at the animal disease research center. The federal government has been operating the animal disease research center, the only facility in the country researching the deadly and highly contagious (to livestock) foot-and-mouth disease, since 1952. It was operated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture until 2003, when oversight of its operations was transferred to the newly created Department of Homeland Security.
DHS maintains that it will shut down the current research center on Plum Island, which it says would be too costly to modernize and upgrade for continued research there. Its functions would be consolidated with others at the new NBAF, which, in addition to continuing research into foot-and-mouth disease, would be certified -- as a BSL-4 facility -- to handle pathogens that can be transmitted from animals to humans. If Plum Island were to be chosen as the site for the NBAF, a new 500,000-square-foot facility would be constructed on vacant land adjacent to the existing facility.
Jay Cohen, under secretary of homeland security for science and technology, will make the final decision on site selection, which is expected to come before the end of this year.
James Johnson, DHS director of the office of national labs, said Tuesday night that Mr. Cohen's decision could be reversed by the new administration in 2009. "No contracts will have been let, work won't have started, and a new administration can revisit the siting decision," he said.
The 60-day public comment period on the DEIS (available at www.suffolktimes.com) ends on Aug. 25. Written comments may mailed to: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, James V. Johnson, Mail Stop #2100, 245 Murray Lane, SW, Building 410, Washington, DC 20528. Comments may be e-mailed to nbafprogrammanager@dhs.gov, faxed toll-free to 1-866-508-NBAF (6223), or called in to a toll-free voice-mail number at 1-866-501-NBAF (6223).
