WASHINGTON — Cincinnati will be the site of a new Homeland Security Research Center, giving the city a high-profile role in the fight against chemical and biological terrorism, the Bush administration announced Tuesday.

        Scientists at the venture will work on the best ways to decontaminate buildings, protect drinking water supplies and create quick tests for figuring out how dangerous an unknown substance might be.

        The center will be housed with the other Environmental Protection Agency labs near the University of Cincinnati in Clifton, a location that worries Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio, who represents the area.

        Mr. Chabot's spokesman, Brian Griffith, said Mr. Chabot urged the EPA in a letter this year to consider less populous areas for a center that will test anthrax and other possible pathogens.

        “We're going to continue to work with them, to get them to commit to no active testing,” of anthrax and other dangerous agents, Mr. Griffith said Tuesday evening.

        The surprise announcement came from EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman, who mentioned it while testifying at a Senate hearing.

        “The point of the center is to pull together the research we're doing on really important issues,” said Steffanie Bell, Ms. Whitman's spokeswoman. “We're establishing this critical mass of research talent.”

        Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, who was at the hearing, hailed Ms. Whitman's move because it should bolster national defense and benefit his home state.

        “An effort to improve our science in this area is a move in the right direction, and I'm glad to see that EPA appears to be considering tapping the resources that exist in its Cincinnati facility,” Mr. Voinovich said.

        Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said Cincinnati's highly trained work force and existing labs “make it the perfect location for this research center.”

        EPA officials said they don't know how many scientists will work at the new center, how many jobs the center will create, what its budget will be, or when it will open.

        The announcement caught local EPA officials by surprise. Pati Schultz, a spokeswoman for EPA's Cincinnati labs, said early in the afternoon that she was not aware of any changes planned for the EPA facilities. Later calls to the EPA lab were referred to Washington.

        The center was not mentioned in the prepared text of Ms. Whitman's statement to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which held a hearing on the government's response to the attacks.

        But Ms. Whitman told senators, “I am pleased to announce we are establishing a Homeland Security Research Center in our labs in Cincinnati.”

        She also told committee members that Cincinnati's labs are now prepared to handle anthrax because they were upgraded and renovated as part of the effort to create the new center, Ms. Bell said.

        She said EPA officials would be happy to talk to Mr. Chabot or other local representatives about any worries they may have.

        Last year, the EPA's deputy administrator told Congress that EPA planned to expand its biological testing capabilities.

        “Recently, we have taken the steps to make one of EPA's labs in Cincinnati, Ohio, capable of conducting anthrax and other biological agent tests, and we are looking at other steps that we might be able to take to further expand our capacities in this area,” EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher told a House Committee last December.

        In February, Mr. Chabot asked EPA officials about rumors that EPA was upgrading its “pathogen suite” in Cincinnati to handle anthrax.

        One EPA official wrote back that EPA had only two facilities capable of analyzing anthrax, one in Fort Meade, Md., and the other in Cincinnati.

        Certified at Bio-Safety Level 3, the second-highest level, the lab can handle anthrax but not the most dangerous pathogens, like smallpox or Ebola.

        The Cincinnati center was built in 1975 and is named after Andrew W. Breidenbach, a former top EPA official who died in 1980.

        About 900 people already work at EPA's National Risk Management Research Labs, the National Center for Environmental Assessment and the National Exposure Research Lab.

Urban housing choices broaden
Briefly on national stage, Patton now diminished
City labs will have role in biotesting
First tickets draw 30-day suspension
Anderson skating may get a boost
Input sought on school construction
Jorg not to blame for death, says examiner
Obituary: Vernon Watson, man of integrity
Ohio EPA hears opposition to expansion of Rumpke landfill
Suit seeks $25,000 in I-275 wrong-way collision
Tristate A.M. Report
UC welcomes pioneers from West High
BRONSON: Religious freedom
SMITH-AMOS: Campaign finance
GUTIERREZ: Paul Patton
KORTE: City Hall
Ex-deputy gets 4-year sentence for rape
Prosecutor eludes debate on trustees
Reappraisal won't help Lakota much
Sixth-graders learn the basics
Suspect kept job after $16K missed
Affrilachian poets shine this weekend
Editorial writers address Patton affair
Hours extended for tax amnesty
Kentucky News Briefs
Newport bond rate improves
No suspect in Highlands threat
Patton reducing political activities
Some blame mine as Harlan stream runs dry
Two Louisville police officers charged with stealing cash