NBAF plans hit a snag

MANHATTAN, KAN. — Although President Barack Obama's 2013 budget proposal doesn't include an anticipated $50 million for the construction of the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) in Kansas, plans to build the facility are by no means derailed, say those close to the project.

"From what I can read, I would anticipate that we would be able to remain on target," says Dr. Ralph Richardson, dean of the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine and a board member of the KC Animal Health Corridor. "The premise for considering (Manhattan, Kan.) as a replacement for Plum Island was based on two things—an aging facility that was expensive to maintain and upgrade because of its location and the desire to locate governmental researchers ... in close proximity to other researchers at a college of agriculture and a college of veterinary medicine. I think those two premises still stand as very important that we need to keep in mind."

Obama's new budget, unveiled in February, slashed funding for NBAF's construction, despite a request for $150 million in 2012. Congress appropriated $50 million of the request last year, but it wasn't enough to begin construction, the budget proposal notes. As a result, the Obama administration decided to conduct a new assessment of the project, considering cost and safety, as well as possible alternatives.

Richardson stresses the fact that Obama's budget proposal has a long way to go until it's adopted, and nothing is firm until then. Still, he says, if the budget were to pass as proposed, it includes $10 million for supporting research, currently conducted at Plum Island, to be moved to the Kansas State University Biosecurity Research Institute.

Kansas officials recently authorized $45.4 million in bonds for the construction of NBAF, and the federal government was scheduled to match another $40 million after the release of a "site-specific risk assessment report."

Construction was expected to begin on a central utility plan in March with work on the laboratory starting by August. Operations were set to move from Plum Island to Kansas in 2017, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expected the new facility to be fully operational by 2020, as reported in DVM Newsmagazine.

Plans to relocate Bio-Safety Level-4 (BSL-4) operations from Plum Island, N.Y., to Manhattan, Kan., were first announced in late 2008. The laboratory operations were expected to pump $3.5 million into the Kansas economy.

While a number of animal-health companies already call the KC Corridor home, a decision by the federal government to change its plans on NBAF could deliver a big hit to the region.

"While the Corridor continues to thrive and attract new companies and jobs, the NBAF project is significant confirmation that the Corridor is the nexus of the global animal-health industry. It would be a disappointment if the NBAF didn't become a reality in the Corridor," says Kimberly Young, vice president of biosciences development for the Kansas City Area Development Council. "We have many assets here that have developed over a more than 120-year legacy of caring for the food supply in our nation, and now around the world. One day we hope NBAF will also be one of those assets—not only to benefit the region but to protect our agricultural assets nationwide. As a nation we deserve a state-of-the-art facility and the KC Animal Health Corridor has already proven itself as the ideal location."

The Manhattan site for NBAF was chosen over four other locations. NBAF has been touted as a modern, high-security facility to study foreign-animal and zoonotic diseases. It would replace the aging Plum Island facility—located four miles off Long Island—where studies on anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease and other threats have been conducted for more than 50 years. The existing facility is too small to meet the nation's research needs, and it does not have BSL-4 capabilities, DHS says.

Questions about the selection of the Manhattan site surfaced in 2009 following the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report criticizing DHS for failing to assess the biosecurity and economic risks of moving the facility from New York to Kansas. The report noted that a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak at Plum Island would have a $31 million economic impact in comparison to a $1 billion economic impact in Kansas.

Construction initially was expected to begin in July 2010, but the GAO study caused a delay, resulting in lawmakers calling for additional studies by DHS.

But DHS revealed in a new report released in February that there is no reason to doubt Manhattan is a safe location for NBAF.

"The (facility's design) is sound and has no evident fundamental flaws or design features that would prohibit the implementation of the best and safest practices used in animal and zoonotic pathogen research facilities," DHS notes. "The estimated expected probability that an accidental release of viable (foot-and-mouth-disease virus) from the NBAF will occur and result in a subsequent outbreak during the NBAF's nominal 50-year operating lifetime is less than 0.11 percent (including catastrophic events such as tornadoes and earthquakes) and less than 0.008 percent when catastrophic events are excluded."

The new DHS assessment of the current NBAF plans also includes a number of additional recommendations, such as adding disinfection fixtures to showers between containment levels and developing protocols that reduce handling of and exposure to potentially infectious packages outside of containment.

Richardson says it is his understanding that the additional studies requested by the Obama administration in regard to the NBAF project have more to do with the cost of construction rather than the design or location of the facility.

"This study has been one that has been pending for some period of time," Richardson says of the new DHS report that was conducted by the National Academies of Sciences. "I would debate that with this report and with appropriate legislative discussions that we'll go ahead and be on track as we have been."

U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) say they hope the release of the new report will calm concerns in Congress and help secure the funding that will move the project along.

"The safety of NBAF's research is a top priority, and this updated report confirms that the NBAF design is sound," Moran says in a prepared statement. "Without NBAF, our country remains at risk from foreign-animal-disease outbreaks. It is critical that construction of NBAF begin immediately to safeguard against these threats and the devastation they would cause."

"Now that this study has been delivered to Congress, I eagerly await DHS to begin construction," Roberts says. "This report fills the Congressional requirements to release the funds, and I expect DHS to do so."