Colorado and South Dakota are vying to house the nation’s first deep underground laboratory, and competition for the $300 million project intensified this week. State officials promised money, pitched the science project to constituents and even proposed to start building early with state funds.
The Colorado team, including Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, ushered members of the media 2,800 feet underground Thursday, into the high- tech tunnels of the active Henderson molybdenum mine near Empire, literally dancing in its reinforced tunnels to show off the mine’s roominess.
From caverns a mile below Harrison Peak, Colorado State University physicist Bob Wilson and his colleagues hope to search for particles that can help them understand the universe’s history, and strange forms of life that may resemble Earth’s earliest.
“If realized, Henderson will become a truly international center, a magnet for prominent scientists from around the world,” said Chang Kee Jung, scientific leader of the Colorado team and a physicist at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. “It could enable us to realize Einstein’s dream of unifying all fundamental forces.”
Gov. Bill Owens’ office of economic development promised $40,000 to the science team Thursday, to help pull together the bid due to the National Science Foundation in June.
And the three universities involved – CSU, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Colorado School of Mines – have waived fees on grants, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, to support the project, Wilson said.
Meanwhile, in South Dakota, Gov. Mike Rounds asked the state legislature to approve $19.9 million to start construction in the 8,000- foot-deep Homestake gold mine even before the federal government picks a site.
“Sure, there could be some jobs on the short-term, but we’re thinking long-term,” said Dave Snyder, director of the state’s Science and Technology Authority who has been traveling with Rounds this week, talking with citizens and lawmakers about how the state could benefit educationally.
“We need a catalyst, something to improve our capabilities so we can get Ph.D. programs out here,” Snyder said.
The National Science Foundation has not yet secured full funding for an underground lab, and will eventually need the White House’s and Congress’ support.
Homestake is more than 3,000 feet deeper than Colorado’s Henderson mine – a possible advantage, said Jung, Colorado’s leader. However, the old South Dakota gold mine’s structures are aging, and it’s flooding steadily, at about 700 gallons per minute, he said.
Standing in a massive elevator capable of carrying a 30-ton shipping container in the Henderson mine, CSU’s Wilson pointed to walls flying past at 10 feet per second.
“This, well, this is fantastic,” he said.
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
