Bay Area Alert!: LBNL opens comment period for Richmond Bay Campus: Jan 4-Feb 4

LBNL has opened comment period for Richmond Bay Campus: Jan 4-Feb 4.

Read and download the notice of preparation, here : http://richmondbaycampus.lbl.gov/assets/docs/env/RBC_LRDP_EIR_NOP.pdf

NOTE: A public scoping meeting for the Environmental Impact Review will be held from 7:00-9:00 PM on January 23, 2013 at the Richmond City Council Chambers, 403 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond. The US Department of Energy may use this scoping meeting to fulfill requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act and under 10 CFR Part 1022 regarding floodplain and wetland analysis.

ANYONE CONCERNED ABOUT SYNBIO or RICHMOND’S FUTURE SHOULD ATTEND and GIVE COMMENT.

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Measure T is a big-money land grab that opens the way for 75-100 ft tall Big Box housing, offices and labs along Berkeley’s shoreline – including labs for an unregulated technology called synthetic biology.

“Compared with conventional biotechnology and genetic engineering the risks involved in synthetic biology are far scarier.”

Philip Ball, consultant editor for the journal Nature

Vote NO on T

…Toxic for Berkeley

What They’re Not Telling Us About Measure T

“Big Promises Backed up by Bad Theory: Synthetic biology is the newest purported cure-all technology for remedying our social, environmental and public health ills.” — Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News (2012)

In 2007 Mayor Bates signed Berkeley up with UC and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to create the “Green Corridor” dedicated to “green” energy market speculation. The “Green Corridor” would place potentially dangerous synthetic biology labs in West Berkeley.

Measure T implements zoning changes for the “Green Corridor”. The proposed zoning would cause land inflation and displace West Berkeley’s vibrant mix of innovative local businesses, arts communities, and historic neighborhoods for massive new buildings. Mayor Bates admitted that Measure T could destroy West Berkeley’s uniquely successful economic community. The Mayor said, “Maybe we won’t make anything here anymore.”

Synthetic biology is an extreme form of genetic engineering that invents and patents new life forms. The City Council has avoided environmental review of the risks to the environment and human health posed by releases of synthetic life forms from bio-labs along Berkeley’s shoreline.

There are no established safety standards for release of synthetic organisms into the air and water. In fact, the Department of Energy recently funded a study of the possible effects of a catastrophic escape of bioengineered organisms into the East Bay’s sewage treatment plants and thus, into the San Francisco Bay.

Measure T would destroy West Berkeley’s vibrant economy and replace it with a speculative real estate bubble based on a dangerously unregulated technology. The tall buildings of bio-labs and housing complexes would blight Berkeley’s shoreline and Bay views.

Vote NO on T

More information:

Overview from Friends of the Earth

http://www.foe.org/projects/food-and-technology/synthetic-biology

Synthetic Biology 101: Some Technical Details from Friends of the Earth

http://www.humanebiotech.com/images/Synthetic_Biology_101_CBD_1_.pdf

Follow the Money: A Report from the Etcgroup

http://www.cbd.int/doc/emerging-issues/etcgroup-synthetic-biology-2011-013-en.pdf

A SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY LAB IN BERKELEY
By Jeremy Gruber, Tina Stevens, Becky McClain

http://www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org/GeneWatch/GeneWatchPage.aspx?pageId=346

A ROACH IN THE KITCHEN

– interview with Becky McClain , Lab worker infected by bioengineered microbe