Butner lab foes step up efforts

Opponents stress risk over reward

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CORRECTION

The job description of Dr. Joe Melamed was incorrect Tuesday in a Business front story about a biodefense lab that could be built in North Carolina. He is a full partner and part owner of Wake Radiology.

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Despite long odds, opponents of a proposed biodefense lab in Granville County are renewing efforts to remove Butner as a possible location for a $450 million research facility.

Those who oppose the lab, which would be run by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are quickly becoming regulars at local government meetings.

In sometimes testy exchanges, they insist local board members answer a long list of questions about lab safety and projected benefits.

"If you really take the time to understand this, you can't possibly support it," said Joe Melamed, a doctor from Granville County who is a managing partner of Wake Radiology.

But most local officials have so far refused to budge from their view that the lab, which would handle a wide range of germs that could be used as biological threats, is good for the county and good for the U.S.

"I'm convinced that there would be some economic value to Granville County, but that's beside the point," said James Lumpkins, chairman of the Granville County commissioners. "If it helps us counter diseases in the country, then I'm for it."

North Carolina is one of five states being considered for the lab, which would be on the Umstead Research Farm in Butner, a 4,000-acre tract about 25 miles north of Raleigh.

Opponents are having a hard time getting their neighbors to join their cause.

Despite Lumpkins' efforts to minimize the importance of any economic benefit, opponents say the promise of about 1,500 construction jobs and 500 permanent lab positions is critical in a town that sits just beyond the development boom of the Triangle.

If the lab is built, the facility will mostly benefit neighboring counties, Melamed said.

"If you are a scientist or a researcher from some urban area like New York, commuting to Wake County or Durham will seem short," Melamed said. "So that's where all the homes will be sold."

A regional issue

Residents of nearby counties also should be concerned, said Matt Petrovick of Creedmoor.

Petrovick has spent countless hours researching the flight patterns and habits of birds in the area. He thinks the release of any pathogens from the lab could be picked up by the birds and spread throughout the Triangle. Direct contact isn't necessary, Petrovick said. Birds inevitably will travel from the lab property to nearby Falls Lake, which provides drinking water to Raleigh.

Raleigh city officials have also asked Homeland Security about any effects the lab might have on Falls Lake, although contamination by birds was not among its concerns.

The lab requires the government's highest security rating because a small percentage of the germs have no known vaccines or therapies. Supporters of the lab -- a group that includes local research companies, universities, state officials and politicians -- point to the fact that no pathogens from such labs in the United States have ever spread to nearby communities.

Opponents counter with reports showing numerous reported incidents inside similar labs and problems outside the United States.

Although many of the issues have been addressed in government reports and various articles, town officials in Creedmoor and Butner have asked DHS to send a representative to answer residents' questions. Granville County recently asked a second time after its first request was rejected.

Homeland Security is preparing environmental impact statements for the properties in all five states. It plans no more public discussions of the project until spring, when hearings are held on drafts of those environmental studies. A final decision is scheduled for late 2008.

That puts opponents in a weak position, said Bill McKellar, spokesman for the Granville Nonviolent Action Team -- a group that successfully derailed plans in 1990 to build a hazardous waste incinerator in the county. In hindsight, the best time to protest was before North Carolina made the list of finalists.

"We can't wait until spring for answers," McKellar said. "We are already way behind. We need to change people's minds now."