(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota’s new State Lab officially opened Tuesday with public health and environmental quality officials praising the enhanced safety equipment and testing capabilities.
Construction began in April 2024 on the $70 million federally funded facility under then-Gov. Doug Burgum, who said at the time the new lab would be the first new building on the Bismarck Capitol grounds in 43 years.
The new lab will house about 50 staff of the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Environmental Quality with room to expand if needed.
“With the expanded space, we no longer have to test in hallways and have equipment sitting in our hallways, and not enough workspace,” said Christie Massen, lab services section director for the Department of Health and Human Services. “This is much more efficient and safer.”
The new 104,000-square-foot building will have expanded capabilities, such as testing for forever chemicals, PFAS, in the near future, and testing substances found in near-fatal overdose cases, she said.
“At the old lab, we didn’t have the proper materials in the construction of that lab because they (PFAS) are everywhere and they contaminate,” said Jim Quarnstrom, chemistry division director for DEQ. “Hopefully within a year or two, we’ll get the equipment we need and get a program going.”
To continue testing drinking water from cities and towns across the state, the Environmental Protection Agency will need to certify the department’s testing procedure, which could take about a month, Quarnstrom said.
The new building has safety enhancements such as designated rooms for workers to don protective gear and separate emergency showers if lab technicians are ever exposed to dangerous substances, Massen said.
Some labs in the new facility require negative air pressure to keep dangerous substances, such as anthrax, plague, ricin toxin, tuberculosis and different types of fungi, contained.
The new lab will also be able to test substances involved in non-fatal overdoses in North Dakota, Massen said. Fatal overdose substances are processed by the medical examiner’s office at the state’s Crime Lab on East Main Avenue or sent out of state.
“Now, we’ll be able to screen and see what’s happening in our public for those who survive the incident,” she said.
The new lab also has a permanent spot for the North Dakota National Guard 81st Civil Support Team’s mobile laboratory, which provides on-site emergency response for terror threats involving nuclear, biological and toxic materials, said Capt. Tom Hansen, nuclear medical science officer for the National Guard.
Massen said having the State Lab on the Capitol grounds makes their work more “on display.”
“Laboratory science has a tendency to be hidden,” she said. “We’re usually behind the scenes and people don’t really know what we do. So it’s nice to be able to showcase what we do and help recruit students and laboratory professionals into the public health world.”
Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden said replacing the old State Lab, built in 1974, was long overdue. She said the opening reinforces the state’s goal of becoming the healthiest state in the nation.
“Our lab staff here deserve to have quality workspaces that reflect the vitally important work that they do,” Strinden said. “The work happening inside this building will touch the lives of people living in every corner of North Dakota.”
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