The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will begin constructing a new supercomputing facility in the hills above UC Berkeley Friday after prevailing in a lawsuit regarding the facility’s potential harm to the environment.
The proposed 2.25-acre site for the project — the Computational Research and Theory Facility, which will house some of the most powerful supercomputers in the country — will be added on to the western portion of the lab’s campus above the UC Berkeley Foothill housing complex.
In response to a previous suit by the Berkeley-based environmental group Save Strawberry Canyon, Judge William Alsup had ordered the U.S. Department of Energy, a sponsor of the lab, to conduct a review of the potential environmental consequences of the project.
The department concluded that the “project will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment,” according to court documents. Save Strawberry Canyon challenged the department’s review, arguing that it was not thorough enough and that its conclusions were flawed. However, Alsup decided to backed the department’s findings.
Lesley Emmington, president of Save Strawberry Canyon, said the proposed site of the facility is unsafe and that construction there will harm the environment.
“Why go forward with (the facility) at this risky location on the hill above Foothill dorms, adjacent to Hayward Fault, removing 70 trees from an unstable sloping ridge?” Emmington said in an email. “Judge Alsup’s decision is a significant setback for Save Strawberry Canyon’s vigorous efforts to encourage LBNL to develop research at alternative, economically viable site.”
Emmington said that the lab, which is poised to announce the selection of a site for its second campus, should build the facility there.
Jon Weiner, spokesperson for the lab, said in an email that the site in the hills was selected rather than the future second campus site because scientists will begin work at the facility sooner than they would at the second campus. The work that will be conducted at the facility, including climate change and clean energy research, is a top priority for the Department of Energy, he said in the email.
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