U.S. District Court Judge Helen Gillmor dismissed a so-called “;doomsday lawsuit”; filed in Hawaii to stop the operation of a subatomic particle accelerator in Europe.

Gillmor, in a 26-page decision Friday, said the plaintiffs - a Big Island man and a Spanish citizen who lives in Hawaii - did not prove that the federal courts have jurisdiction over the Large Hadron Collider on the French-Swiss border near Geneva, Switzerland.

A copy of Gillmor's decision was posted on MSNBC.com.

The collider is a 17-mile ring of superconducting magnets designed to send high-energy beams of subatomic particles crashing into each other, fracturing atoms into more fundamental particles that can be observed and studied. Most physicists say the collider is safe to operate.

But the plaintiffs argued that the collider could create “;micro black holes”; or other phenomena that could destroy the Earth.

The collider started low-power operation on Sept. 10, but fixing a malfunction and a planned winter break will delay full startup until the spring.

Gillmor said the plaintiffs failed to prove that U.S. support of the project is a “;major federal action”; under the National Environmental Policy Act.

The judge noted that the United States provided $531 million for the construction of the $5.84 billion collider; less than 10 percent of the total cost.

Gillmor did not address whether the collider poses a danger to the Earth. She said there is a disagreement among scientists about the possible ramifications of the collider.

“;This extremely complex debate is of concern to more than just physicists,”; Gillmor said.

But she said the proper venue for the debate over U.S. support for the program is in Congress, not the federal courts.