High Court Upholds Ruling Calling for Wider NEIDL Review
BU says plans for additional study are underway
The state’s Supreme Judicial Court yesterday upheld a 2006 court ruling that declared inadequate a state review of the environmental impact of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) currently being built on the BU Medical Campus. Yesterday’s decision supported a ruling by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Ralph D. Gants that an environmental analysis of the project conducted by the state secretary of environmental affairs failed to consider worst case scenarios and did not adequately examine alternative building sites. The high court also ordered a continuing environmental review.
The ruling marked a legal setback for Boston University, the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and others who asked the high court to overturn Gants’ opinion. Ellen Berlin, director of corporate communications for the BU Medical Campus, says the University is fully committed to continuing environmental reviews and is working toward putting them in place.
“The biosafety lab and the research that will be conducted there will save lives, not endanger them,” says Berlin. “We are confident that the additional environmental impact study will satisfy the court.”