The State - News from Sept. 26, 1986

The National Science Foundation’s decision to put a federal earthquake research center in Buffalo, N.Y., instead of Berkeley “is like placing the National Hurricane Center in Kansas City,” charged Republican California Sen. Pete Wilson. Wilson and Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston sent a letter to the General Accounting Office asking for an investigation into how the NSF chose Buffalo over Berkeley for the $50-million research facility. The National Engineering Earthquake Center would have been located at the University of California, Berkeley, if California had been chosen. The foundation, in August, picked a group of New York universities to operate the center. A Wilson aide said the senator will try to amend an appropriations bill to stop the foundation from spending funds on the center until government auditors complete an investigation.