Gov. Bill Richardson is heading today to the nation’s capitol to meet with a NASA official and a congressman to lobby for funding and other support for Spaceport America.
Richardson will meet Wednesday with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin at NASA headquarters. Accompanying the governor on the trip is Steve Landeene, executive director of New Mexico’s spaceport. The two will also meet on Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. and chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology.
Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the meetings will focus on funding and other federal assistance and the status of the state’s attempt to secure a commercial spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The trip comes as the state is pushing approval in Sierra County on April 22 of a quarter percent gross receipts tax increase to help fund the spaceport. Approval would not only generate $2.3 million for construction, but is also necessary for the state to be able to collect an estimated $49 million that would be generated by last year’s approval of a gross receipts tax increase in Doña Ana County. Officials have promoted the Sierra County vote as critical to the spaceport’s future.
But Jay Miller, in a new column, suggests otherwise, speculating that there is a “fallback position.” Richardson’s trip is a reminder that federal funds are a possibility, though none have been appropriated to date.
The estimated price tag for the current phase of the spaceport – a runway and Virgin Galactic’s facility – is $198 million. The state, prior to the 2008 legislative session, had appropriated $114.5 million, and this year’s capital outlay bill included additional funding which, based on a complicated formula, will provide a maximum of an additional $15 million for the spaceport.
Officials are still hoping, on top of Doña Ana County’s $49 million and Sierra County’s $2.3 million, to get $6.6 million from voters in Otero County, but the commission in that county hasn’t moved forward with a tax-increase election. Even if all of that money is made available, the state is still roughly $10 million short on funding, and that’s assuming construction costs don’t rise.
If voters in Sierra or Otero don’t approve a tax increase, the Doña Ana County money and the addition money the Legislature approved this year can’t be spent, so Sierra’s April 22 vote still remains critical to the spaceport. Perhaps Richardson is attempting to secure a funding promise from the federal government to keep positive headlines about the spaceport in the news prior to the Sierra County vote.
There’s another potentially positive headline that would influence voters in Sierra County. Virgin Galactic has signed a memorandum that isn’t legally binding that sets up the framework for a lease agreement, but it has not signed a legally binding lease agreement. Virgin Galactic signed the memorandum last year just before the Doña Ana County vote as a way to show its commitment to the New Mexico project and encourage approval of the tax. The company said at the time it would sign a lease if the Doña Ana County tax was approved, but almost a year later that has not happened.
I fail to understand why. I realize the Sierra County vote is a critical step that may decide whether the spaceport is built, but Virgin could sign a lease that only takes effect if Sierra County voters approve the tax.
By doing that, the company would truly demonstrate its commitment by legally binding itself to the New Mexico project but would have no risk, since it would be released from the agreement if the tax wasn’t approved.
Why not sign a lease before the Sierra County vote that’s contingent on the tax being approved? Such bold action would probably help secure passage of the tax increase.
Gov. Bill Richardson is heading today to the nation’s capitol to meet with a NASA official and a congressman to lobby for funding and other support for Spaceport America.