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Sebelius pushes to win biodefense facility for state By Editorial Staff In her State of the State address Wednesday evening, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said one of Kansas' top priorities will be attracting a $450 million National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility. Sebelius said that she will ask the Kansas Bioscience Authority to convene a special task force to work on the issue. On Tuesday, the Kansas Bioscience Authority board voted to spend $250,000 on a lobbyist to help make the state's pitch for the 500,000-square-foot facility and consultants to help prepare the proposal. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in August that two Kansas sites were among 18 still in the running for the federal biosecurity facility and that final site selection is expected in 2008. Referred to by homeland defense officials as a "next-generation biological and agricultural defense facility," the project will replace an outdated 1950s facility at Plum Island, N.Y. Scheduled to open in 2013, the facility could create as many as 1,500 jobs and bring about 500 scientists, engineers and technology specialists to the location that lands it. In a release, Kansas Bioscience Authority CEO Tom Thornton said it is vital that the state land the project. He said the facility "will create the high-tech jobs that will propel our bioscience economy and our Kansas workforce into the 21st century." With its research and corporate strengths in animal health, plant science and human health, Kansas is an ideal location for the new facility, the release said. Kansas is among 14 states with sites still under consideration. Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Kansas' congressional delegation also have pledged to support the state's bid. Glickman is a board member for the Kansas Bioscience Authority, which was created in 2004 to reinvest an estimated $588 million in state tax revenue generated by the state's growing life sciences sector. |
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