Thursday, October 11, 2012
The Beltsville Agriculture Research Center plans to remove buried radioactively-contaminated materials from its grounds.
The Beltsville Agriculture Research Center is preparing to dig up radioactive waste burried on its grounds since the late 1940s, according to Kim Kaplan, spokesperson for the Agricultural Research Service, of which the Beltsville center is a part. The materials are headed to a licensed landfill in Utah after that, Kaplan said. The 46 pits where the waste now lies comprise a low-level radiological burial site, according to a research service notice that Kaplan said was hand-delivered to people near the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center's [BARC] campus. There is no direct health threat from the low-level radioactive burial site to people working at or living near the research center, the notice states. The site reportedly contains …
Thursday, August 30, 2012
BARC is delaying repairs because its Bee Research Lab will be relocating, so its gate needs are changing, according to BARC official.
Officials at the Beltsville Agriculture Research Center (BARC) are still trying to decide what to do about an entry gate that was rammed and broken about six weeks ago, especially since the area is due for some changes anyhow. A motorist plowed through the gate at the intersection of Powder Mill and Entomology roads. The gate was severely damaged and apparently the vehicle was too, but it was still able to get away from the scene. "I don't think they went through it unscathed," said Sandy Miller Hays, Agricultural Research Service spokesperson, who reported staff found a lot of car parts near where the collision occurred. Hays says they think someone may have been joy riding on BARC grounds. It has a number of access roads, she said, and…
Monday, June 4, 2012
BARC, Greenbelt Metro's North Core, and Metro's South Core have all been recommended as locations for a new FBI headquarters—and its thousands of jobs.
Councilmember Rodney Roberts told Greenbelt City Council last Tuesday that Prince George's County was trying to lure the F.B.I. into building its headquarters on the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) grounds. Now that the idea is out in the open, what do you think about it? Is it a good idea or is there another Greenbelt or county location that you think would be more fitting? Roberts made it clear to council that he isn't keen on BARC's property being whittled down. But in an interview after the meeting, Roberts said he would love to see the FBI— along with its some 10,000 jobs— take up shop in the South Core of the Greenbelt Metro Station. But he thinks developers want townhomes on the South Core instead. The FBI moving is …
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Councilman Roberts urged council to tell the FBI it was not wanted on the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center's grounds.
Point blank, Councilman Rodney Roberts told the Greenbelt City Council Tuesday, "We don't want the FBI at BARC." But according to Roberts, Prince George's County does. If the FBI relocated its headquarters to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC), it would bring thousands of jobs into the county. Facing a long-derided structure that no longer meets its needs, the FBI is considering alternative options, and one of them is relocating, according to the Huffington Post. "Out of nowhere" the county told the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's Transportation Planning Board, that Roberts sits on, that they needed to do a bridge project on Sunnyside Avenue, according to Roberts. This made him suspicious, he said. Much of …
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Ride through the Beltsville Agricultural Center to the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge and more.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Get a bike's-eye view of Greenbelt National Park, the metro, Spellman Overpass, Lakeside Drive and more.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Bring your bikes, strollers even Segways, but no motorcycles and stay on the roads, BARC security officer states.
It’s not just people walking or riding bikes that can enjoy the new Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) pedestrian gate at Research Road — it’s also good for strollers and Segways, according to Dan Thessen, BARC area security officer. The gate is about 3 ½ feet wide, Thessen estimated, adding it was wide enough for persons with disabilities riding Segways. What BARC doesn’t want is motorcycles. It is a pedestrian access gate, not a motorized vehicle access gate, he specified. The gate was the solution born after a joint meeting between BARC officials and Greenbelt City Council on October 17, 2011. Many citizens had also come to the public meeting, irate about BARC closing up an opening in its fence that had been long used by …
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Pedestrians and bicyclists can once again enjoy the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.
Bikers, walkers, runners and nature lovers can once again enjoy the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. On Thursday, a sign went up on the Research Road gate, which allows pedestrians and bicyclists to walk and ride through BARC once again, but the sign asks they stay on the roadways. BARC Area Director Joe Spence had told Greenbelters and the Greenbelt City Council that he would do something about the BARC gate on upper Research Road. He came through. Kathy McCue, executive assistant to Spence, confirmed there was a new gate that she said she's pretty sure they installed yesterday. The gate sign announced the hours as sunrise to sunset, seven days a week. Visitors are asked to remain on the roadways throughout BARC. Spence met with …
Monday, October 17, 2011
A new opening that will allow pedestrians and bicyclists access to BARC grounds during off hours is not off the table.
“I’m not saying anything is off the table,” Joseph Spence, area director for the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) told Patch, addressing the possibility of creating a new opening for pedestrians and bicyclists at the BARC gate on upper Research Road. In earlier correspondence, on June 17, with Michael McLaughlin, Greenbelt City Manager, Spence had stated point blank, "We cannot modify this gate in order to facilitate access onto federal property by local residents." He had defended the new gate and the closing up of a narrow opening beside it. Though both actions had reduced access to bicyclists and pedestrians during off hours and weekends, Spence had said that government assets needed to be protected. As for the opening, …
Ag worker
10:14 am on Friday, November 30, 2012
If you stay on the paved roads, you should have no problems. more ›