Public Safety

Earlier this year, a group of concerned citizens from Somerville/Medford United for Justice with Peace approached me and other aldermen about the proposed BU Level 4 Bio Lab. The group presented strong concerns about the safety of the proposed laboratory given its potential impacts on surrounding communities like Somerville. After listening to these concerns, as Chair of the Committee of the Board of Aldermen on Public Health and Public Safety, I scheduled a public hearing to take testimony on the matter. After hearing the testimony and evaluating the evidence, the Committee recommended that the Board of Aldermen adopt a resolution asking, among other things, the halting of construction of the lab until further environmental impact reviews were undertaken. The full Board of Aldermen adopted this resolution.

As a result of public concerns, the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs announced its intention to spend $50,000 to convene a national panel of scientists to review the Boston University biolab facility in Boston’s South End. The Boston Globe reported that the National Research Council, an independent group charted by Congress, will determine whether the facility has adequate safeguards to guard against worst-case scenarios involving the release of deadly pathogens into the surrounding environment.

A state judge ordered the state environmental agency to conduct additional studies of the facility. In addition to reviewing a National Institutes of Health report that concluded that the facility presented no danger to the neighborhood, 10 scientists were scheduled to hear testimony from Boston University officials and opponents of the facility on October 19 in Washington. Their study is expected to be completed by the end of November.