FREDERICK, Md. - The Maryland Green Party is proposing a lawsuit challenging the Army's plans for an expanded biological defense laboratory at Fort Detrick in Frederick, two of the group's congressional candidates said Tuesday.

Senate candidate Kevin B. Zeese and 6th District House candidate Bob Kozak cited a July 31 Massachusetts state court ruling ordering further environmental review of a proposed Boston University biodefense lab. The Massachusetts decision "really energizes us and gives us hope," Kozak said.

The Massachusetts judge found that a state environmental agency's approval of the lab was "arbitrary and capricious," partly because it lacked a thorough discussion of worst-case scenarios such as the deliberate, criminal release of an infectious agent. The Boston University and Fort Detrick labs both would handle some of the world's deadliest infectious agents in suites designated Biosafety Level 4 - the highest security level.

The draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed replacement and expansion of the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases lab at Fort Detrick contains a discussion of worst-case scenarios, but Kozak said it wouldn't pass the test set forth by the Massachusetts court. 

In the Massachusetts ruling, Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants faulted the environmental review for failing to explore "the potential consequences of the release of a contagious pathogen arising from a suicidal, criminal or terrorist act."

The Army document for the Fort Detrick lab acknowledges the possibility of terrorist acts and a perceived threat from disgruntled employees, but it doesn't expand on those scenarios. It says potential terrorist acts will be covered by a separate "vulnerability assessment" that won't be publicly released. The threat from disgruntled employees will be defused by a "biosurety" program to be adapted from programs "currently under development" at the existing USAMRIID lab, according to the document.

USAMRIID spokeswoman Caree Vander Linden said the Army is committed to the environmental review process and the safety of its workers and the surrounding community.

"We've done a thorough assessment and we have a solid draft document," Vander Linden said in an e-mailed response to questions posed by The Associated Press. "This project represents a new USAMRIID facility, but the location, the work force and the mission are not new. We have safely operated as part of the Fort Detrick and Frederick communities since 1969."

The Army's draft Environmental Impact Statement concludes that the project "will result in mostly minor environmental impacts," most significantly the loss of historical resources.

Green Party leaders have scheduled a public meeting today in Frederick to muster support for a lawsuit. The 7:30 p.m. meeting is at the same time as the Army's public hearing on the draft document for the USAMRIID lab.

Kozak, a Frederick-based environmental scientist and president of Atlantic Biomass Conversions Inc., said he doesn't believe the Army hearing will result in any substantive changes in the final Environmental Impact Statement.

"You know nothing's going to really change by giving testimony," Kozak said. "That's why we feel it's necessary to take it to the next step."

The group will solicit funds to pay a lawyer to draft a lawsuit that would be filed after the Army releases its final environmental statement for the project, Kozak said.

Zeese, a candidate for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes, said in a statement he plans to testify against the project at the Army hearing before joining the Green Party meeting. He said he opposes the project "because it will spur a bioweapons arms race and creates enormous risks to the people of Frederick."

For more on this see: http://kevinzeese.com/content/view/138/34/.