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Biohazard Bully

As we mention in this week's Queque, the proposed federal National Bio- & Agro-Defense Facility germ lab for the latest in foot-and-mouth fun has cleared another hurdle. And San Antonio is still in the running.

Que2 wrote (with haunting bullet-replacing-question-mark furry:

Speaking of reasonable routes, how about tracing possible pathways for foot-and-mouth disease to reach American beef cattle? From an island off Long Island: Eight Ball says tricky. From a South Texas research lab: less so. At least that’s what some livestock associations decided before taking up their cattle prods to protest the proposed move of Homeland Security’s (do they run everything now, or just the doomsday stuff?) proposed $450-million National Bio- & Agro-Defense germ lab off of the now-infamous Plum Island.

Last Friday, Der Homeland released their Draft Environmental Impact Statement. Queque is merrily marching through the 1,005-page tome, but found a few nuggets worth passing along.

? No preferred alternative is announced. All five locations (Georgia, Kansas, Misissippi, Missouri, and SA’s Texas Research Park) are still in play;

? Homeland could start building in 2010 and finish in four years;

? The facility would use 52-million gallons of water annually if it comes to Texas and would require 12.8 megawatts of power (roughly equal to 7,000 homes cooking, air-conditioning, and computing for a year);

? And if foot-and-mouth disease should slip out it could cost Texas $4.1-billion in lost business and dead livestock.

Speaking in support of a new N-BAF facility, though not advocating for a location, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association President Gary Voogt put the full outbreak figure at $10-$34 billion. That is good enough reason for the folks at National Grange, the nation’s oldest farming association, to oppose moving the lab to the mainland.

But, oh, that darned anticipated billions in economic-development potential (and word is the whole operation may be — say Republican three times fast — privatized). Feel better?

We forgot to mention a few things, though.

1) The public hearing for SA has been set:

2) Construction cost estimates are lowest (well, second to the bottom) in SA, while outbreak risks are highest in financial terms: So, money is no object.


3) A strange caller patched through with me to ask I never again post her husband's name on CurBlog. Considering I have mentioned few individuals in relation to N-BAF, it was a wee bit rattling... Then I rememberd THE LIST. Not a regular reader. I mean, that was AGES ago.

So, strange caller lady who hangs up on me after threatening to sue: If you would, please ID your husband from the following list of those who spoke in support of N-BAF at the last public hearing and I'll give serious thought to your proposal.

As for the learning how to write part... well, old dogs, you know?

THE LIST:
1. Bryan Alsip
2. Elizabeth Ames Jones
3. Jeff Barker
4. John Bruno
5. Jay Campion
6. Shannon Cantrell
7. David Casteel
8. Ramiro Cavazos
9. Mike Charlton
10. Henry Cisneros
11. Peter Conner
12. Henry Cuellar (presented by Sean Caporaletti as Representative Cuellar got called away from the meeting)
13. Thomas Cropper
14. Ed Davis
15. Eugene Dawson, Jr.
16. Melissa de la Garza
17. Allen Dehnert
18. Cheryl DiCarlo
19. Guy Dietrich
20. Jim Dublin
21. York Duncan
22. Jay Fraser
23. Jane Fritz
24. Robert Gracy
25. Neal Guentzel
26. Fernando Guerra
27. Howard Ham
28. Cyndy Hanson
29. Brian Herman
30. Mario Hernandez
31. Bob Hillman
32. Jonathan Huhn
33. George Irving
34. Tony Jaso
35. Marcel Johnson
36. Jeffrey Kantor
37. Melina Kinsey
38. Karl Klose
39. Thomas Kowalski
40. Ron Lehman
41. Linda Loomis
42. Lawson Magruder, III
43. Margaret Martin
44. David Marquez
45. David Maserang
46. William Miller
47. Mary Pat Moyer
48. Jean Patterson
49. Marcel Perret-Gentil
50. David Prichard
51. James Reed
52. Rick Rhodes
53. Ciro Rodriguez
54. Kenneth Shine
55. Robert Siddall
56. Clay Smith
57. Gary Stamp
58. Ann Stevens
59. Gregor Weber
60. Bill Welsh
61. Jeff Wentworth
62. Phil Wilson
63. Nelson Wolff
64. Xhavit Zogaj


[And should you decide to sue (despite this friendly overture) you may want to consult this federal site on libel law before you cash out your chips for that sure-to-be-deflating initial consultation.]

Go back to Curblog

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