Livermore Lab, UC contenders for biotech center

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 10, 2006 | by Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER

On rolling, grassy hills between the Bay Area's cities and the farms of the Central Valley, the University of California and scientists of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory say they see a sprawling biodefense lab as large as two Wal-Mart Supercenters.

Federal homeland-security authorities gave the nod Wednesday to the university and its 7,000-acre site near Tracy along with 17 other proposals nationwide as contenders for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, pronounced ENBAF.

This lab originally was intended as a replacement for Plum Island, a 1950s-era federal facility off Long Island where dangerous animal diseases are studied.

But lately the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has retreated from talk of closing Plum Island and suggested a role for ENBAF as the animal counterpart to the top-secret, human biodefense lab being built inside the Army's Fort Dietrick in Maryland. There, in buildings that are themselves entirely classified, researchers expect to step into the shoes of terrorists and create biowarfare