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WASHINGTON - The federal government has recommended a site in Kansas
for a new $450 million laboratory to study biological threats such as
anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease, officials said Wednesday.
The Homeland Security Department's choice of Manhattan, in central
Kansas, beat out intense competition from other sites in Georgia,
Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.
Agency officials revealed their decision to several lawmakers late
Tuesday, according to lawmakers and staff familiar with the
briefings. The officials spoke only on condition of anonymity because
a formal announcement won't be made until later this week.
The choice won't become final until sometime after a 30-day period
for comments on the decision, which could face legal challenges from
losing states.
Homeland Security Department spokesman Amy Kudwa said the department
would have no comment until the formal announcement.
The new National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility would replace an aging
24-acre research complex on Plum Island, about a mile and a half off
the eastern shore of New York's Long Island. Foot-and-mouth research
has been confined to the island since 1955 to avoid an accidental
outbreak that could lead to theslaughter of millions of livestock.
The disease does not sicken humans.
Some farm groups have expressed concern about the risks of moving the
lab to the U.S. mainland. The Bush administration acknowledged
earlier this year that accidents have happened with the feared virus
at the Plum Island facility.
But Homeland Security Department officials are convinced it can
operate safely using the latest containment procedures. And Kansas
officials are focused on the $3.5 billion economic infusion the lab
could mean for the local economy.
A draft copy of the Homeland Security Department's "Preferred
Alternative Selection Memorandum," prepared by department
Undersecretary Jay Cohen and obtained by The Associated Press,
concludes that the site on the campus of Kansas State University was
chosen on the basis of its proximity to existing biohazard research,
strong community acceptance and a generous package of incentives
offered by the state.
"The Steering Committee unanimously agreed that the Manhattan campus
site is the preferred alternative and I concur with the Steering
Committee's recommendation," Cohen states in the draft document.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he was "very seriously"
considering whether to challenge the decision.
"We've got a little time to prepare our appeal," Barbour said at a
Jackson news conference.
The lab is expected to generate about 1,500 construction jobs and a
permanent payroll of $25 million to $30 million for more than 300
employees once the project is completed by 2015.
Kansas officials mounted one of the most aggressive efforts to win
the new lab, forming a special task force to lobby Homeland Security
Department officials after Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., promoted its
economic potential.
Roberts said securing the lab "would be one of, if not the greatest,
economic development initiatives in state history."
The Kansas Legislature approved $105 million in bonds to buy land,
upgrade roads, install a security fence and build a utility plant at
the site on the Kansas State University campus.The university already
conducts similar research at its Biosecurity Research Institute, near
the proposed site of the new lab.
Besides foot-and-mouth disease, researchers also would study African
swine fever, Japanese encephalitis, Rift Valley fever and the Hendra
and Nipah viruses.
Other finalist sites were Flora, Miss.; Athens, Ga.; Butner, N.C.;
and San Antonio.
Information for this article was contributed from Jackson, Miss., by
Emily Wagster Pettus of The Associated Press.
This is a crosspost from another list. This is just great, another thing to worry about. They will never convince me it will be fool-proof and safe when they have had outbreaks in the UK resulting from a lab, stupidly put near farm land. Stupid...stupid.
_________________
Jennifer
www.kansasboergoats.com
www.goatsinthegarden.blogspot.com
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