{"id":3051,"date":"2008-04-01T16:33:00","date_gmt":"2008-04-01T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/richardson-goes-to-washington-to-promote-spaceport\/"},"modified":"2008-04-01T16:33:00","modified_gmt":"2008-04-01T22:33:00","slug":"richardson-goes-to-washington-to-promote-spaceport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/04\/richardson-goes-to-washington-to-promote-spaceport\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson goes to Washington to promote spaceport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> is heading today to the nation\u2019s capitol to meet with a NASA<\/a> official and a congressman to lobby for funding and other support for Spaceport America<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> 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<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>\u2019s spaceport. The two will also meet on Wednesday with U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon<\/a>, D-Tenn. and chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the meetings will focus on funding and other federal assistance and the status of the state\u2019s attempt to secure a commercial spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

The trip comes as the state is pushing approval in Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> 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\u2019s approval of a gross receipts tax increase in Do\u00f1a Ana County. Officials have promoted the Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> vote as critical to the spaceport\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

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

But Jay Miller, in a new column<\/a>, suggests otherwise, speculating that there is a \u201cfallback position.\u201d Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>\u2019s trip is a reminder that federal funds are a possibility, though none have been appropriated to date.<\/p>\n

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

The estimated price tag for the current phase of the spaceport \u2013 a runway and Virgin Galactic\u2019s<\/a> facility \u2013 is $198 million. The state, prior to the 2008 legislative session, had appropriated $114.5 million, and this year\u2019s capital outlay bill included additional funding which, based on a complicated formula, will provide a maximum of an additional $15 million for the spaceport.<\/p>\n

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

Officials are still hoping, on top of Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename>\u2019s $49 million and Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype>\u2019s $2.3 million, to get $6.6 million from voters in Otero<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>, but the commission in that county hasn\u2019t 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\u2019s assuming construction costs don\u2019t rise.<\/p>\n

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

If voters in Sierra or Otero don\u2019t approve a tax increase, the Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> money and the addition money the Legislature approved this year can\u2019t be spent, so Sierra\u2019s April 22 vote still remains critical to the spaceport. Perhaps Richardson<\/st1:city> 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<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> vote.<\/p>\n

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

There\u2019s another potentially positive headline that would influence voters in Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place>. Virgin Galactic has signed a memorandum that isn\u2019t 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<\/a> just before the Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename> vote as a way to show its commitment to the New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> project and encourage approval of the tax. The company said at the time it would sign a lease if the Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> tax was approved, but almost a year later that has not happened.<\/p>\n

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

I fail to understand why. I realize the Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype> 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<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> voters approve the tax.<\/p>\n

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

By doing that, the company would truly demonstrate its commitment by legally binding itself to the New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> project but would have no risk, since it would be released from the agreement if the tax wasn\u2019t approved.<\/p>\n

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

Why not sign a lease before the Sierra<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placetype><\/st1:place> vote that\u2019s contingent on the tax being approved? Such bold action would probably help secure passage of the tax increase.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson is heading today to the nation\u2019s 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\u2019s […]<\/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-3051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051","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=3051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}