Should the Department of Homeland Security be allowed to build a high-level bio-agent research lab near Tracy on Corral Hollow Road where diseases such as mad cow and hemorrhagic fever are studied

That’s what scientists and activists at Tri-Valley CAREs are wondering, and the watchdog group wants Tracy and Bay Area residents to weigh in on the matter at a workshop from 7 to 9 tonight at the Sarvey Shoe Store, 501 W. Grant Line Road.

“If these bio-agents are released, it could devastate our health, environment and California’s agricultural economy,” said Loulena Miles, attorney with Tri-Valley CAREs.

The University of California, which manages Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for the Department of Energy, said the lab submitted a proposal to Homeland Security to build a half-million-square-foot lab on 30 to 100 acres at Site 300, a bomb test site west of Tracy.

If built, it would be one of the world’s largest biolabs, nearly twice the size of a big-box store, where experimental studies on pathogens such as avian flu would be conducted.

A short list of candidate sites could be decided as early as October, according to Tri-Valley.

“With the decision date looming, Bay Area and Central Valley residents have only a short period of time to educate themselves and to speak out,” Miles said.

The UC has thus far refused to release any formal information to the public about its proposal, Miles contends.

Biologist Judith Flanagan will speak at the workshop, as well as other scientists and Tri-Valley staff.