Washington State Congressman, Herseth Sandlin tour SUSEL

By Wendy Pitlick, Black Hills Pioneer
Article Source

LEAD - Washington Rep. Norm Dicks knows a little about the history of the Hearst family and the Homestake Mine, and yesterday Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin hosted him at the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Lab to talk about the future of the science gold mine.

Dicks, who has worked with William Randolph Hearst III - the great-grandson to George Hearst - on some projects in Washington State said he was already somewhat acquainted with the history of the mine. But as the chairman of the subcommittee for Interior and Environment Appropriations, a member of the Department of Homeland Security committee and a member of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee, Dicks was very interested in the National Science Foundation's preferred site for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory. The Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory - the official name for the state-run interim lab facility at the 4,850-foot level - was one of the many stops Herseth Sandlin made as she gave Dicks a tour of South Dakota issues that also included Native American affairs, U.S. Forest Service issues, and topics dealing with the National Parks Service in South Dakota, all of which Dicks has jurisdiction over in his position as the chairman of the Interior and Environmen Appropriations subcommittee.

"I invited Congressman Dicks to South Dakota to address a number of issues," Herseth Sandlin said. "As the chairman of the subcommittee on Interior and Environment Appropriations, his subcommittee has jurisdiction over so many issues of importance to central and western South Dakota. Whether that is the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the programs they administer for the benefit of tribes in South Dakota, whether it is forest management issues ... or the national parks. Whenever I can bring such a senior member of the appropriations committee of the house to South Dakota, obviously we wanted to stop here in Lead to talk about the project ... to make sure that we're sharing as much information as possible with the Congressman and members of his staff about the progress of the project and seeking their assistance in the years ahead."

While at the SUSEL, Dicks and Herseth Sandlin took a guided tour of the surface facilities at the lab, which included an update on the progress of re-entering the Ross Shaft to refurbish the former gold mine for science. Just before embarking on the tour, Dicks learned that his home state of Washington was one of the four final contenders in the NSF's final site selection process for the DUSEL.

"This is an incredible facility and we've been learning a lot about it," Dicks said. "This is going to be a major U.S. Government operation and I just think it's terrific. I just learned that the University of Washington was a competitor. We lost because this is such an incredible facility. We certainly want to be supportive of this and it's great to see the state of South Dakota doing a lot of the work here. There has been tremendous support from the community and we want to work together on this in Congress to further it."

While the NSF has selected Homestake as its preferred site for a deep underground science and engineering laboratory, the final decision is far from done. The Homestake Collaboration, a collective group of more than 300 scientists nationwide, has been charged with developing a detailed site plan for building the estimated $300 million facility at Homestake. The scientists have three years to develop that plan, which will include staffing, infrastructure needs and other aspects. Afterward the NSF will determine priority for the lab development, and ultimately, the decision to fund the facility will go to Congress. Since the NSF selected Homestake as its preferred site for the lab last July, members of our Congressional delegation - Herseth Sandlin, and Sens. John Thune and Tim Johnson - have been working to raise awareness about the lab in Lead to their political colleagues, in an effort to increase the chances for ultimate funding.

Dicks's reaction to what he saw Monday was reflective of the enthusiasm many have had for the project overall, and he too expressed a willingness to help the lab along. And since the subcommittee for Interior and Environment Appropriations also has jurisdiction over the U.S. Geological Survey, an entity responsible for monitoring some water flow issues as well as underground conditions, Dicks said, "USGS is a favored part of the interior department as far as we're concerned because they do such incredible work. If you have water issues and things of that nature they may play some role in the near future. Though the lead for this is the National Science Foundation, we still have interest in our committee."

"I'm just interested in learning more about this," he continued. "There may be some ways we can interact here and help as you develop a plan for what work is going to be done here. I'm interested in this. I think anything that we are doing in science is extremely important and this is such a major facility."

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