12/5/2008

By CHRIS GREEN

Harris News Service

MANHATTAN -- A $450 million federal bio-defense lab poised to land here at Kansas State University could pay big dividends for the rest of the state, officials said Thursday at a press conference in Manhattan.

That payoff includes the K-State at Salina campus and parts of central and western Kansas that sit outside of a corridor that KSU officials now expect to become a "Silicon Valley" for animal health.

Kansas State President Jon Wefald predicted that the placement of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility within the state would draw top-notch scientists from around the world to the surrounding area.

He also predicted that the lab would be a further beacon for animal health research and companies that already have clustered in an area stretching from Manhattan to Columbia, Mo., along Interstate Highway 70.

Wefald said that a further influx of animal health study into Kansas would draw other significant businesses to the region, as well.

"This decision is a transformational event for K-State and the state of Kansas," Wefald said. "This event will go down in history as one of Kansas' finest hours, period, amen, good night."

The placement of the lab, which will study livestock diseases and other lethal biological threats, isn't final yet.

The Department of Homeland Security won't formally choose for a month, although the agency's environmental impact study gives Kansas the edge over competing proposals from Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas.

Ron Trewyn, vice provost for research and dean of K-State's graduate school, said he doesn't know yet what opportunities the lab might create for K-State's Salina campus or its students.

However, considering the school's focus on aviation and technology, he said the lab, and the research and industry expected to spring up around it, would have ripple effects on the Salina campus.

"The benefit isn't just going to be here," Trewyn, of Manhattan, said.

Confident of funding

Sen. Pat Roberts said Wednesday a copy of the final environmental impact statement prepared by the Department of Homeland Security recommended Kansas State as the site for the laboratory, which would study foot-and-mouth disease and other pathogens.

Roberts said he was confident the government would fund the laboratory.

"If we're talking about jobs, if we are talking about research as a catalyst for more jobs, my word this fits right in," Roberts said Thursday. "I have no doubt this will be funded. It's a national priority. It's a national security priority."

His comments came during a news conference at the university's Biosecurity Research Institute, which does research on pathogens that pose threats to agriculture. Members of the congressional delegation joined state officials, including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, and others to laud the decision.

Kansas was competing with Texas, North Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi for the project. The recommendation won't be final until sometime after a 30-day period for comments, and legal challenges from the losing states are possible.

Plans to build the lab comes as the federal government's budget deficit soars amid a national recession.

The NBAF lab is expected to generate about 1,500 construction jobs and a payroll of $25 million to $30 million for more than 500 employees, including 300 researchers, once it's completed by 2015.

Protecting agriculture

Tom Thornton, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, said the lab's mission would clearly benefit the Kansas economy as whole, regardless of what jobs are created.

"The fundamental mission of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is not, in my opinion, about the jobs," Thornton said. "The fundamental reason is protecting agriculture,"

First District Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said the outbreak of a serious disease could have devastating effects on the state's livestock industry, a key economic pillar.

In researching ways to prevent livestock diseases from being spread, the lab will help secure the state's economic future, he said.

"What happens in Manhattan certainly has benefits in all of Kansas," Moran said.

But the lab's presence in Kansas would also bring in the types of jobs that the state's best and brightest young people have often been leaving the state for, he said.

"For a young son or daughter graduating from WaKeeney High School, this will provide a way for them to be a scientific researcher in Kansas," Moran said.

The lab would be built on 59 acres near the Biosecurity Research Institute. The state has pledged more than $105 million in bonds for infrastructure improvements to satisfy requirements of the federal project.

Manhattan is at the western edge of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, home to more than 120 animal health companies employing 13,000 specialists. It stretches to Columbia, Mo., and includes the University of Kansas and University of Missouri.

nThe Associated Press contributed to this story.

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