It's a Danger, All Right

Plum Island, just off the tip of Long Island, was home to an Army germ warfare research lab until the USDA took it over in the early 50s. After that it became a top-secret lab for (so they said) the study of infectious animal diseases. Nobody really believed that that was all they did out there-especially after Homeland Security took over the facility a couple years back, and after it was revealed that most of the scientists connected with the lab have backgrounds in biowarfare research.

All this, and the secrecy surrounding the lab, has left the residents living nearby understandably antsy.

Making things even worse was the fact that the Plum Island facility has always been an infrastructure, security, and safety mess. (It's possible, for example, that both Lyme disease and West Nile Virus are with us today only after having been accidentally released from the lab.)

So last week when DHS hinted that the facility might be moved elsewhere and rebuilt, we were all for it.

Which has us wondering why, exactly, Sen. Clinton and Rep. Timothy Bishop (whose district covers the island) are so adamant that the lab be fixed up a little, yes, but left right where it is.

Is it for economic reasons, as is the case with the military base closings? Doubtful, given the size of the staff that works there. It sure ain't tourism-until only recently, Plum Island didn't even appear on most maps.

The argument seems to be that the island is such a potential terrorist target that it's too dangerous to move-which makes no sense.

Our guess is that the real reason Clinton and Bishop want Plum Island to stay put is because they're pissed they weren't kept in the loop. Former DHS head Tom Ridge promised they'd be informed beforehand of any plans to move the facility, but instead they found out about it via a DHS fact sheet. Because of that (and because Hillary wants to cover her right flank by looking tough on terror) they're making a big stink.

But you know, a slightly bruised ego is no reason to continue to put all of us at risk from a crumbling and quite possibly dangerous "research lab."