NBAF at risk of tornadoes?

One of Texas’ objections to the selection of Manhattan for the new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is meteorological. John Kerr, chairman of the effort to bring the lab to San Antonio, sent a letter to the Homeland Security Department complaining that, among other things, the site selection didn’t factor in Kansas’ tornado track record. Arguing that Kansas has had recent twisters big enough to damage such a lab, Kerr wrote that “the (Homeland Security) site selection utterly ignored this obvious risk and found the risk of a catastrophic outbreak (of disease) to be no different at any of the sites, an absurd conclusion.” Texas has threatened to sue if the decision isn’t reconsidered.

8 Comments

  1. Mary_Caruso
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 6:46 am | Permalink

    Build it underground…problem solved. Remember when Wichita was surrounded by nuclear weapons?

  2. Ksgal
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 8:09 am | Permalink

    This chart from the Tornado Project shows tornado stats for various states: http://tinyurl.com/85a278

    Texas has tornadoes too, and according to the Tornado Project, more than Kansas.

  3. Boxlock20
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 8:47 am | Permalink

    Just sour grapes, should be ignored.

  4. bth
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 9:02 am | Permalink

    I agree Mary. And, as ksgal notes, TX has tornadoes.

  5. cosmos_originally
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 9:59 am | Permalink

    But TX is a bigger area than KS.

    From Ksgal’s link, ranking of tornadoes per 10 K square miles,
    KS = fifth
    TX = tenth
    ————-

    More important, which area has strongest tornadoes, and longest length of track on ground?

  6. Jed
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 12:33 pm | Permalink

    I knew all that hype about Land of Oz was going to come back and bite our asses one day.

  7. newshound
    Posted January 14, 2009 at 3:40 pm | Permalink

    Oh, come on. Talk about grasping at straws to find a complaint. Construction standards obviously take this into account. Check the specs on the Biosecurity Research Institute already built at K-State.

  8. Monkeyhawk
    Posted January 15, 2009 at 1:07 am | Permalink

    “newshound” notes –

    “Construction standards obviously take this into account.”

    Correct.

    Still there’s Wally Shirra’s lament about what he was thinking about at the top of a rocket that “…was all put together by the lowest bidder.”