Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1963-08-01
Senate Group
Writes Site in
Welfare Budget
By GRACE BASSETT
Star Staff Writer

the Health, Education and
Welfare Department budget.
This is a happy solution" to
the search for a site, the COM
mittee told the Senate. 1t asks
initial funds of STA million.
Selection of Beltsville echoed
sentiments of Secretary Cele-
breeze, despite some White
House Intervention.
The administration will des-
ignate a site. If the Senate
committee view prevails in Con-
gress, however, neither the
President nor the Secretary
could take the $40 million pro-
posed project away from the
Washington Metropolitan Area.
States Join Competition
The administration in the
last two weeks has made it
clear that it has not decided on
the best location. Political pres
sure to locate the Federal prof.
ect in North Carolina has been
strong and well received at the
White House.
Senator Robert Byrd, Demo-
crat of West Virginia and an
Appropriations Com mittee
member, has continued to fight
for a West Virginia site.
The Senate committee re-
port quotes President Kennedy
in 1862 and 1863 messages
urging the establishment Of the
giant center to test the effect
Of environmental health haz-
ards on humans. In 1868 he
asked for a central facility In
the Washington area"
Such a center located in the
Washington Metropolitan area
would constitute a national
facility to house the policy
making, research and program
personnel in environmental
: health" the Senate report said.
r The committee said that
S ANY location remote from the
$ Nations Capital" would de-
e stroy the concept Of the center
|. las a national headquarters for
q co-ordinated attack on ma
tional health hazards.
Wins Over 50 Sites
A 280-acre Federally-owned
tract near Beltsville won out
over so sites carefully studied,
, the committee indicated.
The center would go up near
the Agricultural Research Gen.
ter, already deep in peSticide
research and other activities
linked to environmental health.
BeltSville also is the site of
the major new facility Of the
Food and Drug Administration,
with many interests in common.
The National Capital Re-
gional Planning Council and
the National Capital Planning
Commission have approved the
Beltsville site in accord with
their long-range plans for de-
velopment of the national cap
ital area.
Byrd Presses Site
Senator Byrd yesterday aft
ernoon renewed his plea for a
400-acre site near Martinsburg,
w. Va, in a letter to Assistant
Surgeon General Robert ]. An
derson.
Sensitive to HEW sympathy
for a Washington Metropolitan
Area location, the Senator
wrote that the center would
increase ady dangerous
traffic congestion. Smog would
be a hazard, he added.
West Virginia land has been
offered free Of charge by the
owners. he stressed. The Sena-
tor submitted a Public Roads
Bureau clocking Of travel time
from Martinsburg to research
! facilities which might compli-
ment the center. They were:
To the National Institutes of
r Health in Bethesda, Md, 70
!. miles or 81 minutes.
= To the National Bureau Of
Standards in Gaithersburg, Md
66 miles, or 70 minutes.
To the Atomic Energy Com
mission at Germantown, 81
I miles or So minutes.
! White House BaIks
: The White House repeatedly
! baked at automatic acceptance
of the Beltsville site asked by
HEW because Of political prob
lens in North Carolina.
Republicans about equal
Democrats in registration.
! There is considerable specula-
! ton that any Democratic can
! didate for Governor would have
a hard time beating Republican
! Representative Jonas Of North
Carolina should he agree to run.
, The Maryland tract is west
! OF the Baltimore Washington
! parkway between Powder Mill
and Odell roads.
The House has favored the
concept" Of a major environ-
E mental health facility. Con-
!, gress appropriated s785,O00 in
1861.
t But the House this year re-
4 fused any more money. The
= House Appropriations Com
r mittee explained that "inexcu-
e sable procrastination, indeci-
e sion and confusion in the ex-
n ecutive branch" over the site
accounted for the rejection.