By Robert Herriman | Examiner.com | Apr. 16, 2011

Even in times when money is scarce and budgets need to be tightened, Congress still finds a way to fund some programs. One such project is the construction of Biosafety Level-3 and -4 laboratories.

Friday, Kansas Governor Sam Brownback thanked members of the Kansas congressional delegation in helping to secure the money for construction of the new “Plum Island” in the middle of the heartland.

Congress approved $40 million, as part of the 2011 continuing resolution passed this week, to begin construction on the somewhat controversial National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan, Kansas.

Transplanting Plum Island to Kansas: is the country's food supply at risk?

And that’s just the beginning. President Obama included $150 million in his 2012 fiscal budget.

The new facility, which will conduct research about deadly and highly infectious animal diseases, is now expected to open by 2018. However, work there will commence while construction is ongoing.

Did Lyme disease originate out of Plum Island?

The new BSL-4 facility at Kansas State University will replace  the aging and ever full of conspiratorial stories facility, Plum Island Animal Disease Center just miles off of Long Island.

According to a report by David Twiddy of the Kansas City Business Journal:

The National Research Council has warned that an accidental or intentional release of hoof-and-mouth disease from the facility could have a dire effect on the nation’s cattle industry, but federal authorities have pushed ahead, saying the dangers are manageable.