Talk about teamwork.

South Dakota brought a team approach to its effort to win National Science Foundation approval of Homestake Mine in Lead as the site for a proposed underground laboratory.

People from all walks of life - public and private, government and business, educational and non-profit - pulled together to achieve an economic development coup that we hope will have enormous benefits for this state and its people for generations to come.

The list of individuals and organizations that worked hard to accomplish this feat is a long one. It would be impossible to grant each the recognition they so richly deserve. But we'll start with the elected officials who steered it through the halls of government and found federal and state tax dollars to finance the proposal.

Governor Mike Rounds and the state's congressional delegation - Sen. John Thune, Sen. Tim Johnson and Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin - put public service before partisan politics on this issue and the results were stunning. We look forward to to many more years of bi-partisan funding efforts for the physics laboratory.

On the educational front, Black Hills State University and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, with the University of California-Berkeley, put the advancement of science before academic competition. Scientists such as Kevin Lesko of UC at Berkley and Bill Roggenthen of SDSM&T will work together to create research partnerships that will benefit all of science.

As School of Mines President Charles Ruch said, it took a congressional delegation, campus leadership and a $70 million financial commitment from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford to make the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL) happen.

Sanford is a credit card company mogul who likes to put his name on things, including a hospital in Sioux Falls. For $70 million, we think he deserves to change the name of DUSEL to SUSEL. Thank you, Mr. Sanford.

Many community organizations, most notably Black Hills Vision, should be recognized for its civic and financial commitment to the project. Barrick Gold Corporation, the owner of Homestake, deserves our thanks, too.

And lastly, but not least, our congratulations to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority for its management of the entire process. Director Dave Snyder made it all look easy, even though we all know it was not.

Our apologies that this short list is by no means complete or exhaustive. To the many others who support Lead's quest for the SUSEL in many and myriad ways, please accept our thanks.

This week, South Dakota pulled together for one amazing result.

Now that's teamwork.