Opponents vocal at Butner biolab hearing

BUTNER — About 200 people showed up this afternoon for one of the last scheduled hearings on a $450 million federal defense lab that has divided state leaders lobbying for the project and local residents who oppose it.

The 520,000-square-foot lab — about five times the size of a regular Wal-Mart — would handle a wide range of pathogens that could be used as biological threats. About 10 percent of the lab would be specifically set aside for viruses with no known cures.

Known formally as the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, the lab would be used to better understand biological threats. The Department of Homeland Security is the lead agency.

Opponents made it clear how they felt even before the hearing started at Butner-Stem middle school. Another hearing is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.

As Jamie Johnson, a spokesman for Homeland Security addressed reporters, two children and their month sang protest songs accompanied by a violin.

Johnson said North Carolina has some of the most vocal opponents among the five sites under consideration.

Dave Krabbe of Rougemont, dressed in a cape and full lab protective gear, called to Johnson from the edges of the group. “Are incapable of telling the truth,” he repeatedly asked.

Inside the middle school, information specialists from the government stood next to posters to answer questions. Opponents from the Granville Nonviolent Action Team stood next to them handing out material.

Supporters of the lab were scarce.

“They know we don’t want this thing, they just aren’t listening yet,” said Louise B. Jackson, a 76-year-old who has lived in Butner more than 35 years. “What’s in it for us?”

Wanting to replace a similar but aging facility on Plum Island, N.Y., the Bush administration began a process in 2004 to find a new location.

After more than two years of weeding through proposals, Homeland Security picked five finalists: North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Kansas.

Hundreds of jobs and the potential to become an international research hub quickly triggered an intense competition among the states.

But the competition also draw the attention of opponents who had little to say before Homeland Security held its first hearing in September. Opponents contend the risks of the lab outweigh its advantages.

Public sentiment toward the project shifted after the first of the year when opponents began to hold a series of town hall meetings, rallies and other events to call attention to the lab.

Local government officials, finding they could not answer pointed questions from opponents, then began to withdraw their support.

In February, Raleigh officials withheld support over questions involving possible effects on Falls Lake, the city’s primary source of drinking water.

In May, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued a report questioning the safety of any facility on the mainland. If a disease such as hoof-and-mouth were to escape the lab, it could force the slaughter of millions of large animals, according to the report.

Comments at today’s hearing were supposed to focus on the draft of an environmental impact statement.

But in one conversation after another, Homeland Security’s Johnson acknowledged that no lab can guarantee a perfect safety record.

“But the likelihood of a release is very, very unlikely,” he said. That assurance did nothing to appease opponents, who have vowed to sue the government if Butner is selected.

Homeland Security intends to choose a location by late 2008. The project is scheduled for completion in 2013, but tepid support from Congress and the possibility of legal action by opponents could push that date much later.