Sen. Berger Announces Opposition to NBAF
By Harry Coleman - Editor
North Carolina Senator Doug Berger Wednesday announced that he had decided to publicly oppose the National Bio-Agro Research Labs placement in Butner, NC.
Berger said that he was concerned by a report of the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) that suggested that research that Homeland Security planned to do on the mainland of the United States on Hoof and Mouth Disease was problematic.
Senator Berger said that he (at the request of Dean Warwick Arden of the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine) delayed asking for a restatement of the position of Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler. Arden asked Berger to delay his request until after the Environmental Impact Statement was released. Berger said the GAO report was not available at the time he gave his support for the project.
Berger asked Troxler and the North Carolina Cattlemen’s Association and the North Carolina Pork Council an opportunity to provide a re-statement on their position by July 30, 2008.
Berger said that when they had not responded by close of business hours on Wednesday he made the decision to withdraw his support and join those opposing the location of the NBAF in Butner.
Berger said that he would be speaking before the Raleigh City Council on Tuesday to announce his change of position and urging the City of Raleigh to also publicly withdraw their support for the project which could affect the water supply for Raleigh and Wake County and beyond. Berger said he would begin working with the opposition groups fighting the location of the lab in North Carolina.
The Senator said he shared the concerns expressed by G.N.A.T. John Pike. Pike expressed concern that the Department of Homeland Security would not publicly assure that in the future only animal research would be conducted in Butner.
Berger said with the lack of credibility of the present Bush Administration who assured the country that the primary focus of going to war in Iraq was to destroy weapons of mass destruction which we later learned this information was false. With the concerns of the Administration not telling the truth it made it unclear whether or not Homeland Security promises that the research conducted at the Bio-lab which they said would not include military research to include the possibility of the manufacture of biological weapons designed for offensive use could be trusted.
Berger pointed out that even U.S. Representative John Dingel had experienced difficultly getting the Department of Homeland Defense to provide requested information as a part of the Government Accounting Offices requests.
Berger also said that for the NBAF Project to work the government needed to have community support.
“We have not reached the point in the dialogue where this cooperation seems likely to take place,” Berger said.
With the announced use of contracted services to manage a potential lab he said he was also concerned about the movement of agents being used in the research coming in and out of the facility. He said that he did not have complete trust in Homeland Security and he did not wish to try to negotiate how the lab would be run after the decision was made on where it was to be built.
At the same time Berger said he continued to feel that the country did need this kind of research but that he favored a more isolated location like Plum Island has provided for the past 50 years.
Subscribe to: The Butner-Creedmoor News 1-800-736-3909 or (919) 528-2393
Fax (919) 528-0288
P.O. Box 726
418 North Main Street
Creedmoor, NC 27522
Email | 
