People speaking in favor of constructing the proposed Superconducting Super Collider in Illinois faced strong, and sometimes hostile, verbal opposition on the second day of the Environmental Impact Statement hearing at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora on Friday.

Kristin Dean, director of SSC for Fermilab, aroused anger in the opposition when she spoke in support of the SSC. Dean spoke about academic and financial benefits the super collider would bring to the area and Fermilab if it is constructed in Illinois.

Many members of the crowd began shouting, “That has nothing to do with the EIS.”

Dean said the opposition’s reaction “wasn’t a big surprise. The people in opposition don’t want to give credence to the fact that they are a minority.

“I have hundreds of businesses supporting my organization (SSC for Fermilab). I could have paraded 100 business officials through here (the EIS hearing) if I wanted to,” she said.

Instead of having the construction’s proponents appear in person, they wrote letters to the U.S. Department of Energy to support the SSC, Dean said. She presented more than 100 letters to the EIS hearing panel. Dean said the letters will have just as much effect as if the letter writers had appeared to speak at the hearing itself. Writing letters will “shorten the hearing process a little,” she said.

Stanley Yonkauski, staff attorney for the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources, began his speech to the hearing panel by saying, “We (the ENR) represent the citzens in the area of the SSC.” The crowd began to get hostile and shouted, “Address the EIS,” “litigate,” “We’ll (Citizens Against The Collider Here) see you in court” and “Kill all lawyers.” They surrounded Yonkauski as he attempted to leave the podium and put bright green signs stating “No SSC” in front of him.

CATCH Attorney Ed Malek said that out of about 250 speakers at the hearing, only about 50 were in favor of the SSC being constructed in Illinois. He said the purpose of the hearings were to comment on the EIS, which none of the project’s proponents have done.

“We are doing our job (by commenting on the EIS), but the state is not doing their job. They’re giving us a snow job,” Malek said.

Yonkauski said CATCH’s claim that those favoring the SSC’s proposed Illinois construction did not address the EIS were untrue. He said, “We (the proponents) have had scientists talking about specific issues.”

Malek said he was in favor of CATCH members in the audience voicing their opinions because “it is important for the DOE to know that not only speakers, but the (hearing) participants are against it.”

He said the state is presenting more of a “pep rally” than a relevant testimony.

Yonkauski said, “We (those in favor of the SSC) don’t have a cheering section. We have professionals making specific comments.”

CATCH sees “ENR as the enemy,” but the proponents have gathered 40,000 petition signatures in favor of the SSC being built in Illinois. That number is “twice as many as CATCH claims to have,” Yonkauski said. Studies by state officials have shown that only one house out of every 20 in the affected area is against having the super collider, he said.