Site Alternatives Evaluated in the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility Environmental Impact Statement

The Department identified five site alternatives that surpassed others in meeting the evaluation criteria and Department preferences, and determined that they, in addition to the Plum Island Site, would be evaluated in the EIS as alternatives for the proposed NBAF. The final site alternatives were:

• South Milledge Avenue Site, Athens, Georgia
• Manhattan Campus Site, Manhattan, Kansas
• Flora Industrial Park Site, Flora, Mississippi
• Plum Island Site, Plum Island, New York
• Umstead Research Farm Site, Butner, North Carolina
• Texas Research Park Site, San Antonio, Texas

The Final Selection Memorandum (PDF, 42 pages - 1.31 MB) documents the basis for the selection of the five mainland site evaluated in the NBAF Final EIS.

The Plum Island Memorandum for the Record  (PDF, 10 pages – 515 KB) assesses the Plum Island site alternative based on the same evaluation criteria used in the Final Selection Memorandum.

The Preferred Alternative Memorandum (PDF, 11 pages - 1.15 MB) documents the agency’s preferred alternative.

The Record of Decision (ROD) documents the Agency’s final decision for siting, constructing, and operating NBAF at the Manhattan, KS site.  All comments on the NBAF Final Environmental Impact Statement were considered before the Record of Decision was issued.

NBAF Project Milestones

Initial Site Selection Process

The Department of Homeland Security held a competitive process by soliciting Expressions of Interest (EOI) to select a potential site for the NBAF.  A multi-agency (the departments of Homeland Security, Agriculture, Health and Human Services and Defense), multi-disciplinary (engineers, scientists, lawyers, academics and communicators) team was formed to review the submissions.

The 29 submissions were evaluated against for criteria:

• proximity to research capabilities,
• proximity to workforce,
• acquisition/construction/operations, and
• community acceptance.

Read more about the initial site selection process.