Raleigh, NC City Council Withholds Support for NBAF

originally published February 27, 2008

On Feb. 19, the same day that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials held an informational meeting in Athens to answer citizens’ additional questions about the proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF), a group of elected officials not far from another possible NBAF site - the city council of Raleigh, NC - voted unanimously to withhold their support for siting NBAF in the nearby town of Butner. Butner is about 30 miles north of Raleigh, and is not far upstream of Raleigh’s sole water-supply reservoir, Falls Lake.

The Raleigh City Council doesn’t have jurisdiction over Butner or over the county (Granville) in which Butner is located, but in their vote last week Raleigh officials did lend support to the Granville County Commission, which earlier withdrew its support for NBAF.

According to a press release, “Council members said they want federal officials to meet five conditions before they could consider supporting the facility.“ Those conditions include responding to questions posed by Granville County Commissioners, as well as those posed by Raleigh officials as a part of the scoping process in a letter sent to DHS last fall. (A list of nearly 40 questions ranging from water supply and wastewater treatment to emergency response and security issues accompanied the letter.) A third condition: ”explain plans for keeping sediment runoff from the facility out of Falls Lake.“ Also desired are information on oversight and consideration of alternate sites in North Carolina.

When asked about the city council vote in Raleigh, Athens-Clarke Mayor Heidi Davison had only to say what she’s already said about NBAF in recent weeks: that she will continue to support the project until she has information that will change her mind. In other words, she plans to give Homeland Security’s Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, a “proper review” when it is released. In that sense, her support for NBAF is conditional in essentially the same way that Raleigh’s opposition to the project is. Davison reiterated that the NBAF proposal will not be debated by ACC Commissioners “on the floor,” and that they will not be expected to take formal action on the matter.

A 60-day window for public comment will follow the release of Homeland Security’s draft EIS in late spring. The final EIS is expected in late summer or fall, and it likely will be accompanied by a final site decision by Homeland Security officials.

Ben Emanuel

ben@flagpole.com