Vaccines in My Back Yard, Please! (Goforth Commentary)

Most of us have known about activities or projects to which we would have declared “Not in my back yard!”—the NIMBY phenomena. A recent example was the initial reaction to the then-proposed west-side wastewater treatment plant for Fayetteville. A future project that might encounter the NIMBY phenomena, depending in part on location, is the Duke-Harmony sludge-to-fertilizer plant being considered by the city of Fayetteville and possibly a new regional “conservation” authority.

What are the characteristics of NIMBY projects that allow them to generate so much public and political attention? The benefits of these projects are typically diffuse and have small individual impacts. On the other hand, the drawbacks accrue in a much more compact area where they may be perceived as having very significant and negative individual impacts. This situation leads to proactive response by the community that perceives itself subject to the drawbacks but with few or none of the potential benefits. Their NIMBY response is usually not countered by a similarly strong response from the broader community of beneficiaries.

Are there projects that we should want in our back yard? When should we say “In my back yard, please” (IMBYP)? I know of a clear IMBYP project: the national vaccine production facility that could be beneficially placed at the Pine Bluff Arsenal (PBA) at a site in close proximity to the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR). This would be a genuine high-tech venture, as I noted in a “Commentary” in these pages last January.

Since that commentary, I have visited San Antonio, one of Arkansas’s primary competitors for the vaccine production facility, and they are really getting after it. The City of San Antonio has dedicated $1 million to promote technology development focusing on two areas: information technology (specifically security matters) and biotechnology (which includes vaccine production). They are doing their homework, and they have an aggressive program in Washington to promote San Antonio as the choice location.

I have also had an opportunity to learn more of Sen. Tim Hutchinson’s efforts to secure the vaccine facility for Arkansas. He has been working the issue for several years, and I sense some frustration among his staffers with the agonizingly slow pace of decision making about the project. As a senator, there are many different constituencies seeking support from his office for their projects or causes. These and other official commitments obviously impact on Sen. Hutchinson’s availability and ability to focus on the vaccine facility. While he is well positioned to serve the State’s interests, particularly his membership on the Senate Armed Services Committee (and the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities), he should not be expected to serve as the primary lead on the state’s efforts.

Elsewhere, we have heard that ADED has the vaccine production facility as a “highest priority” concern. Other members of our congressional delegation are working the issue, and local efforts in the PBA and Pine Bluff area are under way. I worry that, however commendable, these efforts are not very well coordinated, sufficiently aggressive, or sensitive to the urgency of the matter. If we wait until an RFP is issued to get with it “full bore,” we will have waited far too long.

Do I have a self-interest in promoting this facility? Most certainly I do, because if technology enterprise development were to take off in Arkansas, it will be good for Beta-Rubicon. After all, our business is providing independent assessments of technology to help sound decision making for investing in such enterprises. (Think of our role as somewhat analogous to the role of property appraisers in real estate transactions.) The presence of beneficial effects for Beta-Rubicon — effects that would be second-order at best — should not in any way detract from my concern as a citizen of Arkansas and my work in promoting the PBA as the site for this important, high-technology vaccine production facility.

After all, I consider Arkansas to be my back yard, and I want the center of vaccine production to be here. IMBYP!

R.R. Goforth, Ph.D., is general manager of Beta-Rubicon Inc. in Fayetteville, which may be reached on the Web at www.beta-rubicon.com.