Howard needs to rethink site for biotech campus

Regarding the July 3 Metro article "Howard hopes for biotech campus":

When an institution of higher learning such as Howard University seeks to develop mostly forested land in the rural tier outside the Beltway, it is difficult to understand how it is "good for Prince George's County," as Howard Vice President Artis Hampshire-Cowan said. Ms. Hampshire-Cowan is correct that a biotech research and development campus would benefit the county's tax base, but it is possible to do the right thing in the wrong place.

Howard's 108 acres sit in the middle of low-density residential neighborhoods and rural forests. Business development that would be truly good for the county would be redevelopment along a mass-transit line. Just a half-mile to the east is a MARC station and a downscale industrial park. And land around many Prince George's Metro stations inside the Beltway remains undeveloped or underdeveloped. Yet Howard wants to deforest rural land.

It is ironic that just a half-mile away at the county's first 100 percent LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) school, Vansville Elementary, my daughter has been taught how deforestation contributes to global warming. We have met the enemy, and it is we.

Todd Reitzel, Beltsville