The Committee unanimously recommends the establishment of a deep premier national underground scientific laboratory to enable US leadership and synergism in a broad array of scientific fields in the coming decades.

The committee endorses a single primary site as the most effective method of realizing the anticipated scientific program.

The Committee believes that there are two excellent sites for a premier deep underground science laboratory: Homestake and San Jacinto. The committee admires the commitment of the proponents of the proposals to outreach and communication of basic science to the American public. Based on the information we have received, and on the independent assessment by the committee, we judged that Homestake and San Jacinto are very similar in their technical suitability for underground experiments. Although the committee is not charged with making a formal site selection, time is of the essence, and the agencies need to be aware of the time-sensitive nature of the site selection. We strongly encourage interagency cooperation to help realize this exciting opportunity for science.

At the time of this meeting the committee favors the Homestake site for the following reasons: - faster time scale to produce important scientific results, - less initial capital outlay to produce world-class science, - greater positive impact on the local population, - lower inherent uncertainties.

The San Jacinto site is also judged to have great potential for several reasons: - horizontal access allows simple and cost effective access and operation, - lower operating costs, - the close proximity of strong scientific research universities.

The Homestake pre-proposal at present is not complete. First the indemnification problem must be solved. Second, a representative, national group of underground scientists must be involved in the preparation of a formal proposal that describes a detailed science program and a complete cost estimate for the laboratory. Given the imminent closure of the Homestake mine, these two issues must be solved in a timely fashion, or the advantages which lead us to favor the Homestake site will be significantly reduced.

Like Homestake, San Jacinto could become the premier site in the world, but further work is needed. Concerns include cost, construction permitting, and site optimization. A more broadly representative group of proposers would be desirable, as well as a comparison of the San Jacinto site to nearby alternatives. We encourage the San Jacinto site advocates to continue working on the preparation of a proposal. If the issues with the Homestake mine are not resolved adequately in a timely fashion, the San Jacinto site is an excellent opportunity.

The Committee has received and considered a pre-proposal from advocates for the Carlsbad Underground National Laboratory. The Technical Assessment Sub-Committee visited the Carlsbad site and the existing Soudan Underground Laboratory. The Committee believes that both these sites have played important roles in the development of underground physics.

The considerable resources of the Carlsbad site and the relative ease of excavation in salt have and will likely continue to facilitate a number of prototype experiments. The support in New Mexico for fundamental physics at Carlsbad is impressive and provides an excellent example of how a future national laboratory should inform and educate the American people.

The Soudan Laboratory has well hosted the Soudan 2 detector for more than a decade and has recently expanded to house the far detector for the important MINOS Fermilab-to-Soudan neutrino oscillation experiment and the CDMS-II dark matter detector. The physics program at Soudan is an excellent model for how to work collaboratively to inform and educate both the general public and K-12 school children about science.

Despite these considerable assets, the Committee strongly believes that limited depth, and thus excessive cosmogenic background, preclude these facilities from being general purpose underground science facilities for the United States. The Committee further believes that while these sites have a future role in a comprehensive program, the advantages of collaboration and synergy favor focusing the majority of future detectors at a single deep site.