Why would any sane person put a Level 4 biodefense lab in Galveston?

[Shinobi Mugen]

"It's not like no one thought Galveston could ever be hit by a monster storm. The city was almost destroyed in The Great Storm of 1900 which struck on September 8 of that year and killed 6000 people. The Thomas Edison Company has historic film footage of the destruction. So it seems a bit odd (I understate) that the geniuses at the Department of Homeland Security and NIH decided that Galveston was a good place for one of the first two high containment biodefense laboratories to be built after 9/11 (the other is situated in a densely populated neighborhood in Boston, another sterling choice).

"But put in Galveston they did and now it's almost built. And another monster storm (track it in real time here) is bearing down on Galveston so the lab is being evacuated before it goes under water. Some of the locals are wryly amused:

"Here at the Biodefense Barbeque, we tip our hats to the visionaries in Washington and at the University of Texas System that decided to put a huge lab handling the most dangerous and exotic diseases in the world on a barrier island known for periodically being cataclysmically obliterated by hurricanes. Maybe they were taking George Bush's rhetoric denying global warming a little more seriously than prudent planners would. (Texas Biodefense Barbeque)

"Whether you are amused or not depends on whether you think it's funny to scare people so you can rack up pork barrel projects with no particular value but significant downsides (and here, passim). The site selection certainly speaks to a colossal incompetence, a monumental stupidity and a cynicism almost unparalleled in the annals of American politics.

Picture these guys digging around for the infected rhesus monkeys, ferrets, mice and rats...

Source:http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/09/effect-measure.html

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Source:http://blog.wired.com/sterling/2008/09/effect-measure.html

I mean while it might sound dumb, you also can't really blame them, they could have made it safer (blast doors like the med center has) but this is just like asking why would anyone build a city in a hole on the coast, because they wanted to.

By the same right, 1900 storm came before weather forecasting was what it is now, we followed this storm two weeks and could tell when it was coming and what it was doing with hours and even days of notice...

[Shinobi Mugen]

I mean while it might sound dumb, you also can't really blame them, they could have made it safer (blast doors like the med center has) but this is just like asking why would anyone build a city in a hole on the coast, because they wanted to.

By the same right, 1900 storm came before weather forecasting was what it is now, we followed this storm two weeks and could tell when it was coming and what it was doing with hours and even days of notice...

Sure, but if you're planning the location of a facility that houses things like Ebola, Smallpox and the Beubonic Plague you pretty much have to be a republican if you place it on an island frequently obliterated by hurricanes or in downtown Boston...

[Spencer_Gator]

^I lol'd...

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Sure, but if you're planning the location of a facility that houses things like Ebola, Smallpox and the Beubonic Plague you pretty much have to be a republican if you place it on an island frequently obliterated by hurricanes or in downtown Boston...

Shows how bad your history is, Glaveston has had three bad Hurricanes in the last 108 years. And before this it was 25 years before the last storm. The Great 1900 storm, Carla in 1961, and Alicia in 1983. None of them except the first did this kind of damage to Island either. Things that had been there through Carla and Alicia fell.

Likewise, any place in Houston can flood, as we were shown by Tropical Storm Allison, the Medical center was a lake for days...

This Republican angle makes you just look silly really. Its an insult and it has no bearing here. I was going to go and look up who had the school built and why...but simply put, it doesn't matter. You build it in any place and there is a chance of a natural disaster...this isn't news. This is a "What if..." Comic.

"Who would build the twin towers where someone could just fly planes into them?"

"Who would build New Orleans in a hole?"

"Who would put power lines above ground where the wind can knock them over?

"Who would, who would, who would..."

All ideas look worse in hind sight, all we can do is learn from mistakes and better prepare next time.

[Xion]

Wow, I remember the folks at Weather Underground mentioning this and it is surprising that you would bring up this fascinating point.

It is indeed a hazard and choosing such a place to put it must have been the height of incompetence and retardation.

[Purgatory]

I smell conspiracy theory.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Wow, I remember the folks at Weather Underground mentioning this and it is surprising that you would bring up this fascinating point.

It is indeed a hazard and choosing such a place to put it must have been the height of incompetence and retardation.

Not anymore hazardous than building something like that in any major city...

[Xion]

Not anymore hazardous than building something like that in any major city...

Sure it is.

Barrier islands can disappear during hurricanes. Cities usually not so much.

Of course a city is still very dangerous due to the many people and the possibility of terrorism. Hurricanes are probably more likely though.

[L. Lawliet]

They're building a Level 4 down the street from where I work, in the middle of fucking Boston. It's not even isolated, someone could bomb it and take out half the population of MA.

[Xion]

They're building a Level 4 down the street from where I work, in the middle of fucking Boston. It's not even isolated, someone could bomb it and take out half the population of MA.

Well look at the bright side, at least I don't live in Boston. :zaru

Hopefully they design those things better than they design nuclear power plants (nuclear power plants here are basically reinforced concrete and can survive with barely a scratch from a 747 at full speed into them).

These facilities pose more of a threat than a nuclear meltdown since the shit is much more dangerous and contagious than radiation.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Sure it is.

Barrier islands can disappear during hurricanes. Cities usually not so much.

Of course a city is still very dangerous due to the many people and the possibility of terrorism. Hurricanes are probably more likely though.

What I mean is this, that any major city could have an accident and the stuff could spill into the population. The idea place is someone in the middle of a desert or on a small uninhabited island...

They're building a Level 4 down the street from where I work, in the middle of fucking Boston. It's not even isolated, someone could bomb it and take out half the population of MA.

That's because no one likes Boston.

[Xion]

What I mean is this, that any major city could have an accident and the stuff could spill into the population. The idea place is someone in the middle of a desert or on a small uninhabited island...

Well they are both bad choices, but I just think putting it near a major metropolitan area (Houston) on a barrier island is more dangerous for the simple fact that a strong hurricane could possibly destroy the barrier island as a whole leaving the diseases in a major waterway.

Terrorist attacks on such a facility are very unlikely. Although I think both are very dangerous locations.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Well they are both bad choices, but I just think putting it near a major metropolitan area (Houston) on a barrier island is more dangerous for the simple fact that a strong hurricane could possibly destroy the barrier island as a whole leaving the diseases in a major waterway.

Terrorist attacks on such a facility are very unlikely. Although I think both are very dangerous locations.

I didn't mean the terrorist attack part, just the fact that one of the animals they are testing on could some how get out or there could be some material stolen and sold or something and it could contaminate things.

The big city is a bad idea, true. But if you had to pick a barrier Island Glaveston is a good choice, its pretty high above sea level, its not been under water in over 100 years and even being close to Houston, its still pretty far down there.

[Xion]

I didn't mean the terrorist attack part, just the fact that one of the animals they are testing on could some how get out or there could be some material stolen and sold or something and it could contaminate things.

The big city is a bad idea, true. But if you had to pick a barrier Island Glaveston is a good choice, its pretty high above sea level, its not been under water in over 100 years and even being close to Houston, its still pretty far down there.

They could have at least put it on the Wyoming prairies or something. Who the hell would care if the animals even roamed free there. :P

Probably has to do with the UoT wanting a nice, reachable place. There are other areas in Texas though that are far away from the coast and sparsely populated.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

They could have at least put it on the Wyoming prairies or something. Who the hell would care if the animals even roamed free there. :P

Probably has to do with the UoT wanting a nice, reachable place. There are other areas in Texas though that are far away from the coast and sparsely populated.

There are several UTMB places around, my mom actually worked for the one in Galveston so I know alot about it and have been around it a lot. Oddly I didn't know about the Level 4 thing until shortly after she quit her job.

[Xion]

There are several UTMB places around, my mom actually worked for the one in Galveston so I know alot about it and have been around it a lot. Oddly I didn't know about the Level 4 thing until shortly after she quit her job.

Wait. So you didn't know it was Level 4 until after or was it not Level 4 until recently?

[Tokoyami]

They wanna see how big of an ecological disaster they can make before somone gets pissed off enough to call them out on it.

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Wait. So you didn't know it was Level 4 until after or was it not Level 4 until recently?

Hm it might have come later, like I said I went in that place more than once and don't remember seeing shit about it. I could just ask my mom...

[Xion]

Hm it might have come later, like I said I went in that place more than once and don't remember seeing shit about it. I could just ask my mom...

Did they give you full access to the facility? :zaru

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

Did they give you full access to the facility? :zaru

Nope, but usually when one of those places is around, there is a sign out saying it (like on the road and stuff).

[drache]

I think you answered your own question, no sane person would do this

but then it's the goverment! :dupe

[kire]

WTF! I had no idea they had one in Galveston! And that is a moronic decision..:notrust

[Cardboard Tube Knight]

My mom could not be reached because she's too busy being crazy...but my Dad says he believes that its under the ground and that it even has blast doors, he says most of them did when he last went in one.