The Associated Press
MANHATTAN, Kan. — State and local officials promoted Kansas as a good site for a new national biodefense lab, but a handful of local residents expressed skepticism and even opposition during a federal hearing Thursday.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is considering a site on the Kansas State University campus for the new National Bio- and Agro Defense Facility. Construction is expected to cost at least $451 million, and the lab’s payroll is estimated at between $25 million and $30 million.
The department expects to make a decision later this year.
State, local and university officials called the lab a natural fit for Kansas, given the state’s agriculture economy and research already under way.
“We have a long-standing commitment to this work, we have unparalleled expertise, and we have demonstrated that we can pull people and resources together to make things happen,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told a panel of three Homeland Security officials who had the hearing.
Also under consideration are sites in Athens, Ga.; Butner, N.C.; San Antonio; and Flora, Miss. Another alternative would be building a new research lab on Plum Island, N.Y., where the existing one is located.
That option is considered less likely because the administration spent considerable time and money scouting new locations and because of concerns about operating from a location accessible only by ferry or helicopter.
During the Kansas State University hearing, a few local residents sought assurances that deadly diseases handled by the lab won’t accidentally escape.
Sandy Cravens, a farmer and stockwoman northeast of Manhattan, wore a black visor with “NO BIO” across the bill and carried a plastic pig with “NO BIO” written on a denim patch glued to its side. The pig squealed when she walked to the front of the auditorium to speak.
She said an accidental or intentional release of foot-and-mouth disease or other pathogens would devastate the region.
“I think the research needs to be done, just not here,” she said. “They are only doing it for monetary gain.”
She added: “Make the terrorists bring it here, not come here to blow it up.”
In June, Homeland Security released its 1,005-page draft environmental impact study calculating that economic losses in an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease could surpass $4 billion if the lab were built near livestock herds in Kansas or Texas.
That would be roughly $1 billion higher than the government’s estimate of losses for a hypothetical outbreak from its existing lab on Plum Island.
The foot-and-mouth virus does not infect humans but could devastate herds of cattle, swine, lambs and sheep.
Kansas officials have been aggressive in preparing their bid for the lab. The 2008 Legislature approved construction of backup utility systems to support the facility.
Kansas State University already conducts similar research at its Biosecurity Research Institute.
Cravens said she wouldn’t want to send a child to Kansas State if the new lab were to be built in Manhattan, a sentiment she said she has others express.
But Ron Trewyn, Kansas State’s vice president for research, said it’s important that the new lab’s research be conducted near those already doing similar work. He also said more than 130 animal health firms operate between Manhattan to Columbia, Mo.
He said five of the eight pathogens that the new lab will research can immediately be studied at the Biosecurity Research Institute.
Trewyn said the new lab won’t be a threat to the community, just as the federal Centers for Disease Control isn’t a risk to Atlanta.
“The threat to Kansas isn’t NBAF being here, it’s NBAF not being here,” he said.
Other area residents said they would have opposed the research at the Biosecurity Research Institute had they known about it, but the institute was built before the public knew what was happening. They also wanted to know who would pick up their health care costs should humans be sickened by a disease.
Myron Calhoun, a retired Kansas State engineering professor, pointed out several problems with Homeland Security’s draft environmental impact statement. For example, he noted, it said Manhattan is more than 640 miles from Topeka and that the Finney County state fishing lake was located on the Kansas State campus. Finney County’s lake is more than 200 miles southwest of Manhattan.
Calhoun said such glaring mistakes scared him. He said it suggested that in the event of an accident, Homeland Security would mistakenly send its crews “to the slopes of the Rocky Mountains.”
“Accidents do happen,” Calhoun said.
