By Mike Shields and Jim McLean
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 10
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that luring a massive federal research facility to either Manhattan or Leavenworth County would be a top priority for her administration this year and that she soon will appoint a task force to help make the state”s case.
The National Bio and Agro-Defense laboratory would create thousands of new jobs and add billions of dollars to the Kansas economy, officials said. It also could make the state a center for bio-medical research focused on understanding the relationships among animal, plant and human diseases.
On Tuesday, the Kansas Bioscience Authority agreed to spend $250,000 to hire a Washington lobbyist and a consultant to help sway the Department of Homeland Security and other federal decision makers. Former U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, once a Kansas congressman and a member of the bioscience authority, said he would help with the lobbying effort. So did former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas.
Sebelius stressed the importance of the project in her annual State of the State address to legislators.
“We can continue to expand our bioscience base by bringing a planned national bio- and agro-terrorism defense facility to our state,” Sebelius, a Democrat, said. “This would have a huge economic impact, but it will take a cooperative effort on the scale of the one that kept our military bases here.”
U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., announced he had arranged for U.S. Department of Agriculture officials to tour the Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University on Thursday as a part of the effort to land the new federal research laboratory.
“Although the final decision on the location of this new facility will rest with DHS, the Department of Agriculture will, without a doubt, provide expertise in the selection process,” Roberts said. “That is why it is important to demonstrate Kansas” facilities and advantages. I hope to provide a similar tour in the future to DHS officials.”
Intense competition
The federal government is searching for a site to replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center at Plum Island, N.Y. In January 2006, the Department of Homeland Security asked to hear from those states or other entities interested in having the new facility. There were 29 expressions of interest.
The agency winnowed those to a list
of 18 possible sites
in 11 states.
President Bush included $23 million in his Fiscal 2006 budget for design work on the new, 500,000 square-feet research center, which is expected to cost $451 million to build. Experts calculate it would mean 1,500 construction jobs and then 300 permanent jobs as the facility was manned for full-scale operation beginning
no later than
2014. According to a study by the University of Georgia”s Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the facility over 20 years would bring in between $3.5 billion and $6 billion.
Tom Thornton, chief executive officer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, said the governor”s decision to appoint a high-level task force was critical to keeping Kansas in the running in what promises to be an intense competition. He said several other states already were aggressively touting their respective sites and had begun lobbying their congressional delegations and other federal officials.
“It is a little naïve to think that this is going to be a decision made just on the merits of the proposal,” Thornton said. “There is a political dimension.”
Thornton said the Bioscience Authority planned to have a lobbyist hired by the end of the month and would focus on finding someone with strong ties to the Department of Homeland Security and the congressional appropriations committees and subcommittees.
He praised Sebelius for quickly seeing the potential for Kansas in attracting the research center. He said the governor”s decision to play an active and personal role is particularly important to the effort now that Democrats control Congress.
“She”s already agreed to take this task force to Washington,” he said. “Not just to do meetings with our (congressional) delegation, but to meet with Democratic leadership and meet with the agency (Homeland Security) and press the case. This is where the rubber meets the road with respect to politics.”
Former Kansas Gov. John Carlin, now a visiting professor at K-State and a member of the bioscience authority, agreed that Sebelius” leadership is critical to the effort.
“There are a lot of very important things needed to make it happen. Obviously, having the governor taking the lead is probably where you would want to start,” Carlin said. “Without her clear enthusiasm and direction it wouldn”t work.”
Carlin said he had received a letter from the governor inviting him to be a member of the task force she is forming.
“It is a huge opportunity and we”ve got some real strengths that make it realistic, not just a pipe dream,” Carlin said. “But nothing is guaranteed and we intend to work it hard.”
Biosecurity and public health research
According to the Department of Homeland Security, researchers at the new facility would focus their attention on diseases that strike animals but also have consequences for human health. Jim Guikema, associate vice provost for research at Kansas State University, cited avian flu as an example, saying vaccine research could be among that which is conducted at the facility.
“We also could be talking about validating techniques for decontamination should an outbreak occur,” Guikema said.
Guikema is playing a key role in developing the Kansas proposals, which promote sites in both Manhattan (on the K-State campus) and Leavenworth County, adjacent and west of Fort Leavenworth. Thornton and Guikema said each site had unique strengths.
Manhattan has strong existing animal research and a new facility that would complement the proposed center. Leavenworth is close to agribusinesses in Kansas City and a major regional airport.
Financial incentives likely
Thornton and Guikema said Kansas must be prepared to match financial inducements that other states are likely to offer as they compete to win the site. They said it is likely legislators this session will be asked to approve additional spending to help buttress the Kansas offer, though they said they remain uncertain when that might happen or how much money might be sought.
“We just don”t know yet, but we are actively trying to determine what that would be,” Thornton said. “Strong advocacy will take more than $250,000.”
He said formal proposals must be tendered by Feb. 16, and then officials from the Department of Homeland Security will make site visits this spring. A spokesman for the agency said it will announce in June a short list of finalists. That will be followed by an environmental assessment of each site. The chosen site is expected to be announced in October 2008, with construction beginning in late 2009 or in 2010.
According to Homeland Security, four criteria will be used to judge the competing applicants:
*
Research capabilities, including proximity to existing veterinary/medical/ research facilities.
*
Workforce, both a critical mass of intellectual researchers and workers with expertise to provide proper security.
*
Land acquisition and construction feasibility, including proximity to major highways and airports and environmental compatibility. At least 30 acres are required.
*
Community acceptance made evident in various ways, including letters of support from local and state government, industry and academia.
Here is the list of organizations competing for the site:
* Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (California)
* Georgia Consortium for Health and Agro-Security
* Heartland BioAgro Consortium (Kansas)
* Kentucky and Tennessee NBAF Consortium (Kentucky)
* Mid-Atlantic Bio-Ag Defense Consortium (Maryland)
* Gulf States Bio and Agro-Defense Consortium (Mississippi)
* University of Missouri at Columbia
* North Carolina State University – College of Veterinary Medicine
* Oklahoma State University
* Texas A’M University
* Brooks Development Authority and Brooks City-Base Foundation (Texas)
* Texas Research and Technology Foundation (Texas)
* Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (Texas)
* University of Wisconsin-Madison at the Kegonsa Research Facility
Mike Shields and Jim McLean are staff writers for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. They can be reached at 785-233-5443.