States race SSC site-proposal deadline.

States race SSC site-proposal deadline

Sept. 2, the deadline for states to submit site proposals for the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), has come and gone with 25 states submitting 43 proposals. The SSC, which will be the most energetic accelerator of subatomic particles ever built, will require a ring tunnel 53 miles in circumference. Many people though it would not be easy to find appropriate sites, but half the states did, and some have offered more than one--for example, Texas proposed seven, New York four and Utah three. The proposals will be evaluated by a committee chosen by the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, which will select a number of finalists for consideration by the Department of Energy (DOE).

There was both amusement and melodrama at DOE headquarters as the 2 p.m. cutoff time approached. The Texas submission, which came by truck, was estimated to weigh tons. Paul Sweet, a University of California lobbyist, paced up and down in front of the building, waiting for word from home. The night before, the California legislature had failed to pass an appropriation for the state's expenses in site preparation, deadlocked over how much of the SSC money would be set aside for minority contractors. However, on Sept. 2, in a meeting in Gov. George Deukmejian's office, legislative leaders arranged a compromise. As the agreement impended in Sacramento, word was passed to Sweet, and he made the submission with minutes to spare.

Meanwhile in Congress, support for the SSC seemed to be building. As Congress returned Sept. 9 from its August recess, it had before it a special appropriations bill for the SSC sponsored by 200 House members led by the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, Robert A. Roe (D-N.J.) and its ranking Republican member, Manuel Lujan Jr. (R-N.M.). Such a special bill is a rare mark of congressional favor. According to a DOE spokesman, the SSC is the first DOE project to have such a bill.