| Back when Spitzer was asking for input on his budget, I wrote just a bit about a certain $40 Million Capital Project Reappropriation for a new Food Safety Lab that I had some concerns about. The lab is needed, no question, but Pataki had announced that it would be built in Geneva, NY last September, in what was understood by the scientists who work at the current lab (and were not consulted) as a parting gift of pork to his good buddy, Senator Nozzollio. Comptroller Hevesi put a hold on the project after PEF, the scientists' labor union, made formal complaint, as well as appealing to the public that the location was ill-considered, political, and not in the best interest of the public.
Like a bad penny, the idea resurfaced in the Senate budget bill, where the reappropriation was identical to last years', with the exception of the words "in Geneva, NY."
Today's announcement that the Food Lab scientists have succeeded in identifying the substance in recalled pet food that was responsible for a number of animals' deaths, only underscores that we have high-caliber microbiologists and food scientists working for NYS-- the pet food company was in Canada, and it was a national problem. Shall we alienate them and/or hamper the effectiveness of their work by putting Bruno and Nozzollio and their pork-production operation in charge of locating and building their lab space? |
| This is the kind of issue that really should be WAY above playing political football with... I mean, who is NOT in favor of a safe food supply? And, this is not the kind of thing that there are differences of opinion about, either-- it is based on chemistry and microbiology, and is pretty cut-and-dried hard science. Indeed, Nozzollio does not even really try to argue that the lab would be more effective in Geneva, it is, instead, about "research" (which the Food Lab does not really do) and "economic development" and "jobs." Fred LeBrun of the Albany Times-Union wrote about it earlier this week, referring to it as "Tussle over Food Lab Is All About Politics of Decentralization " An excerpt:
"One of the more disheartening and self-defeating aspects of economic development is when one part of our state is pitted against another for a publicly financed resource, such as a block of state jobs."
Now, that is for sure true. But, if a Senator, like, say, Nozzollio, were moving those state jobs to a "business incubator" that is not seeming to get off of the ground, and which he also SITS ON THE BOARD OF... well, wouldn't that go beyond "disheartening" into the territory of, say, ILLEGAL SELF-DEALING? It is bad enough when politicians bring pork-projects to their districts to make them look good, but, when they bring them to their ORGANIZATIONS to make them look good... well, I for one get riled.
And, it turns out that is not EVEN the worst of it. The proposed Geneva site is an EPA Type 04 toxic contamination site-- "remediated, but requires continued management." Seems it was an experimental fruit orchard used for years for testing pesticides prior to becoming an industrial park and Empire Zone. And what is one of the things that the Food Lab does? Why, test for pesticide residues. The scientists say that there would be so much ambient pesticide residue in the environment that none of their tests for this would be reliable in this location.
Then there are the small matters of the nearby 100 year flood plain, and the fact that there is not a UPS or Fed Ex shipping hub in the area (how most samples arrive at the lab), and the fact that the scientists need to collaborate with others in their Dept. of Ag and Mrkts, as well as Dept. of Health and Criminal Justice...
Is this a safe thing to let these three-bit hacks have any say about? A paper that came my way with more details is posted in the Tapopedia, in the "discussion" section, under Senator Nozzollio. If you get the chance, tell your reps that you would rather have the scientists, not the politicos, decide where the best place for the lab might be.
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