HJ0100 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HJ0100 LRB093 23937 RSP 54033 r

HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory, chartered in 1946 as the nation's first national laboratory, maintains a site located in southern DuPage County 25 miles southwest of the Chicago Loop; and

WHEREAS, Operated by the University of Chicago for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science, Argonne National Laboratory is a direct descendent of the University of Chicago's Metallurgical Laboratory, part of the World War II Manhattan Project; and

WHEREAS, The Manhattan Project, led by the famed Enrico Fermi, winner of the 1938 Nobel Prize for physics for his work on nuclear processes, created the world's first controlled nuclear chain reaction; and

WHEREAS, Argonne's Illinois facility employs 3,200 staff, scientists, and engineers, of whom 350 have doctoral degrees in physics and more than a dozen prestigious international awards for research in physics; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Energy has announced its intentions to offer a contract for the management and operation of a Rare Isotope Accelerator, estimated to require approximately $1 billion and between 6 to 10 years to construct and between $100 and $200 million annually to operate; and

WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Energy has placed the Rare Isotope Accelerator in a third place tie among 28 projects it has listed as necessary to keep the United States at the forefront in scientific research; and

WHEREAS, The Rare Isotope Accelerator will help scientists determine such things as the origins of elements and other building blocks of the universe, the laws that govern nuclear matter, and the process by which stars and galaxies evolve; and

WHEREAS, The Rare Isotope Accelerator will also have practical applications in the medical field and its tracking of disease, in industrial radiology and its identification of industrial wear, and in national security; and

WHEREAS, With over 800,000 students attending the various institutions of higher education in the State, Illinois' faculty and students will benefit from the proximity of this facility by developing collaborations for research in nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics; and

WHEREAS, Scientists and engineers at Argonne have already laid the conceptual groundwork for the design, construction, and operation for the Rare Isotope Accelerator, and Argonne National Laboratory already has experience with the cost-effective operation of this type of scientific and support infrastructure for the U.S. Department of Energy; and

WHEREAS, The physical infrastructure, including security for the facility, and the human resources already in place at Argonne would take years and hundreds of millions of dollars to replicate elsewhere; and

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has demonstrated its strong support for Argonne and the possible location of the Rare Isotope Accelerator there, as Governor Rod Blagojevich has taken the initiative to create a task force that includes Senator Dick Durbin, Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, and Representative Judy Biggert; and

WHEREAS, This proven record of support from the State of Illinois already includes a $13 million appropriation in the FY05 budget for the construction of a facility that will house Accelerator support staff and act as a venue for the public to learn more about the important work that would be conducted at Argonne; and

WHEREAS, Argonne National Laboratory's close proximity to two international airports, O'Hare and Midway, with O'Hare offering more connections to more cities, more often than any other airport in the world, will facilitate the travel of the thousands of international scientists and researchers expected to visit the facility; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois General Assembly pledges its support for Argonne National Laboratory and its bid to be the home of the Rare Isotope Accelerator to be contracted by the U.S. Department of Energy, and that the General Assembly commits to do everything within its power and ability to provide any support necessary in order for the Accelerator to be constructed at the Illinois Argonne site; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Illinois General Assembly strongly encourages the U.S. Department of Energy to consider Argonne's existing scientific expertise and experience with the concepts and operation of the Rare Isotope Accelerator, its existing building and security infrastructure, and the human resources already in place that make Argonne National Laboratory a natural fit for the location of this exciting new technology; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be provided to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, Secretary Spencer Abraham of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Illinois Congressional Delegation, and Governor Rod Blagojevich.