Homeland Security Approves $450M 'Bio Threat' Lab

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,479684,00.html

The Department of Homeland Security has approved a site at Kansas State University for a $450 million lab to study livestock diseases and some of the world's most dangerous biological threats.

DHS released its final record of the approval Monday, confirming a decision announced in December to build the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility at the Manhattan, Kan., campus to replace an aging lab at Plum Island, N.Y.

Sites in Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina and Texas were also considered for the new lab, where animal diseases and other potential bioterrorism threats will be researched.

The federal agency said factors in its decision included the proximity of the site to Kansas State's research labs and its colleges of agriculture and veterinary medicine.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he will work to ensure the project is fully funded. The state has agreed to provide more than $105 million in infrastructure improvements at the site to cover additional costs.

"This is great news. NBAF is a great win for Kansas and Kansas is a great win for NBAF," said Brownback, a Republican.

The laboratory is to be built on 59 acres at Kansas State near the Biosecurity Research Institute, where similar activities are conducted on plant and animal diseases.

University officials have said that the lab could conduct a portion of the research that will be done at NBAF until that facility is completed, which is expected to be by 2015.