{"id":1457,"date":"2007-03-23T07:54:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-23T13:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/state-says-its-close-to-inking-deal-with-virgin-galactic\/"},"modified":"2007-03-23T07:54:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-23T13:54:00","slug":"state-says-its-close-to-inking-deal-with-virgin-galactic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/state-says-its-close-to-inking-deal-with-virgin-galactic\/","title":{"rendered":"State says it’s close to inking deal with Virgin Galactic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The state is close to inking a deal that would officially make Virgin Galactic<\/a> the anchor tenant at Spaceport America<\/a>, a top official says. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cCould be days. Could be a couple of weeks,\u201d said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans. \u201cI am hoping days. I will know more by this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Homans said what should be finalized in the coming days is a memorandum of understanding that would set the terms for a lease. He said the memorandum will be signed by the state and company, then converted into \u201ca legal lease document\u201d that he expects to be signed \u201cby mid-year.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The news comes less than two weeks before voters in Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> will decide on April 3 whether to approve a 1\/4 percent increase in the gross receipts tax to help fund the spaceport. Opponents of the tax increase have long complained that there\u2019s no agreement with Virgin, and Homans has said for months that such an agreement was in the works.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The memorandum would give voters key details about Virgin\u2019s intentions in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> that should help them decide whether they want to approve the tax increase, which would provide $49 million for the spaceport.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The lease is one of three conditions the state has placed on the use of funding it has approved for the spaceport. County<\/st1:placetype> Commissioners<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> also made it one of three conditions that must be met before the tax money \u2013 if it\u2019s approved by voters \u2013 can be spent. The memorandum won\u2019t satisfy that condition, but is a big step.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Homans compared the memorandum to \u201ca purchase and sale agreement when buying a home,\u201d and said, before it\u2019s signed, \u201cit will have been reviewed by lawyers on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what\u2019s happening now.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The state has already met another of the three requirements \u2013 that the official cost estimate come in at $225 million or less. Earlier this week, officials announced that the estimate is $198 million.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The state must still obtain a license from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate a commercial spaceport. Homans has said he expects to submit the environmental impact statement to the FAA in May, and expects to have the license by the first quarter of 2008.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Asked when an announcement on the deal with Virgin might be made, Homans had this to say:<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe will announce it when negotiations are complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Virgin is spending more than $200 million to develop a spaceship that will ferry paying passengers into space. The company says it plans to begin operations next year from a converted airport in Mojave, Calif.<\/st1:state>, and move to Spaceport America<\/st1:country-region><\/st1:place>, which will be its worldwide headquarters, as soon as the facility is built.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Virgin is also working with the government of Sweden<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> to operate from its future spaceport, which, due to weather there, will only be useable a few months out of the year. One of the future, probable uses of spaceports is extremely quick travel around the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The state is close to inking a deal that would officially make Virgin Galactic the anchor tenant at Spaceport America, a top official says. \u201cCould be days. Could be a couple of weeks,\u201d said New Mexico Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans. \u201cI am hoping days. I will know more by this weekend.\u201d Homans said what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}