Maryland elected leaders are pushing back on the Trump Administration’s plan to close the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Prince George’s County.
The center has been targeted for closure under the administration’s efforts to reorganize and relocate jobs outside the D.C. metro area.
The county is facing the potential for major economic and job losses if the center closes on top of losing Six Flags and the Washington Commanders.
Democratic elected leaders toured BARC and planned to have a news conference across the street on federal property, but they said the Trump administration told them they had to go.
“I don’t know why they want to impose a gag rule on all of us,” said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
They decided to stay, emphasizing the need to keep BARC open to preserve jobs and world class research at the center, which has been there for more than a century. They also said it would need congressional approval to close.
“It will set us back many years, if not decades, in terms of the research that’s going on here,” said Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin.
The closure is part of a USDA plan to reorganize and move jobs outside the DC metro area.
It would be another blow to Prince George’s County, which is facing major economic losses.
The Commanders will be moving back to D.C. — abandoning Northwest Stadium — in five years, the Trump administration has pulled out of a plan to move the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt and Six Flags is set to close in November.
“Something will replace six flags but it will be something that will generate far more in terms of tax benefit for Prince George’s County,” County Executive Aisha Braveboy.
She said she sees opportunity in the losses, and there has been interest by investors in the Six Flags property.
The amusement park generates about $3 million for the county each year, and the stadium about $14 million. Braveboy said she’s looking for new, major investments, like National Harbor.
“I understand the importance of using every bit of property in commercial areas to generate tax revenue for the residents, and that’s what we’re doing moving forward.”
Back at BARC, elected leaders said they’ll fight to keep it open and that moving those jobs and projects across the country is not an option.
“This is the nation’s agricultural powerhouse,” said Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks. “Infrastructure that is so valuable to the rest of the world.”
The discussion around closing BARC comes as Maryland has already lost more than 15,000 federal jobs since January, the most of any state in the nation.
USDA told News4, in part, that the facility would be closed over multiple years and research would be transferred to other labs.
The statement says BARC is no longer a state of the art facility and would need $500 million to modernize its facilities and $40 million each year for maintenance.
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/XkJ09GH
0 Comments