Bishop Vows to Keep Fighting for Plum Island and Against Wasteful Spending

Press Release

Today, Congressman Tim Bishop continued his fight to protect the Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center (PIADC) by sponsoring an amendment that would bar funding in this fiscal year for the proposed National Bio-and-Agro Defense Facility (NBAF) in Kansas, a new $1 billion laboratory intended to replace the functions of PIADC.

The amendment failed, largely along party lines. Bishop noted that President Obama has included $150 million for construction of NBAF in his FY2012 Budget proposal and vowed to continue efforts to bar funding for the facility in future appropriations bills.

"Given our nation's mounting budget deficits, we should not invest one more dollar of taxpayer money--and up to $1 billion--to create a massive new research facility that would duplicate many of the functions currently served well by other existing facilities, including Plum Island," said Bishop.

The Department of Homeland Security claims that the sale of Plum Island will cover the costs of NBAF, which have more than doubled from the original estimate of $451 million; however, every reasonable estimate for Plum Island tops out at $80 million. Even if a buyer is found, DHS would still be responsible for environmental remediation of the Island, which was used as a military installation, ammunition dump, and animal research laboratory in the 20th century.

Bishop amended the FY2010 Homeland Security Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-83) to prohibit the use of federal funds for the construction of NBAF until a risk assessment is completed by DHS and reviewed by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). In their report released last November, the NAS detailed "several major shortcomings" in the DHS risk assessment and indicated there is nearly a 70 percent chance over the 50-year lifetime of the facility that a release of Foot-and-Mouth Disease could result in an infection outside the laboratory, impacting the economy by estimates of $9 billion to $50 billion.

"Before approving funding for NBAF, my colleagues wanted to know if it was safe to study the worst animal diseases in the heart of cattle country," said Bishop. "We have our answer: there are too many risks--with consequences too great--to justify the costs of construction at this time, and I will keep up the fight.

Source