BUTNER, N.C. -- Hundreds got the chance to speak out about the Department of Homeland Security's proposed bio-defense lab in Butner on Tuesday.

"I read the book 'The Andromeda Strain.' It's sorta scary,” laughed long-time Butner resident Jim Brand.

He and hundreds of others in Granville County came together to make some noise about the proposed National Bio and Agro Defense Facility. He and his neighbors don't want the lab near their homes and water supply.

"We'd have very dangerous materials just a mile down the road,” said Brand.

The facility would test various pathogens that could be used as biological threats. About 10 percent of the facility would be specifically set aside for viruses that have no known cures.

That prompted protestors with the Granville Non-Violent Action Team to get creative with signs, costumes, and animals -- including sheep from a local farm who had a sign on their cage showing they think the lab is a “Baaaaad idea.”

David Krabbe came dressed in protest as “Bio-Safety Man”. He was concerned that the facility would put, "275,000 gallons of contaminated waste a day in to Falls Lake -- Raleigh's drinking water supply,” he said. “They have to treat that chemically, everyday, perfectly for the next 50 years. I don't trust Homeland Security to be able to do that.”

But argued Homeland Security representative Jamie Johnson, "It's going to be a safe and secure facility. Certainly we have to build in appropriate layers of safety and security.”

North Carolina is one of five sites being considered for the new facility. It would be on 195 acres at the Umstead Farm Unit in Butner.

Homeland Security officials say the lab would employ 350 people, bringing new jobs. They believe the facility would thrive in an area like the Triangle.

"It has the proximity to research, the Research Triangle Park, the vet school, collaboration with universities,” listed Johnson.

But Brand worries, "This is such a populated area, seems like they could pick a more isolated area to do this.”

He adds most of his neighbors will continue protesting, even if the lab does come to Butner. “Some have even threatened to lay down in front of the bulldozers,” he said.

The price tag for the facility is $450 million. Homeland security will select a site for the facility in the fall and plan to start construction in 2010. The lab will replace a lab on Plum Island, New York.