Letter to the editor by Peter Burrows

Paul Gessing's article posted first on Sunday in the Grant County Beat, "New Mexico Betting on Losers," brought back a lot of memories. One of New Mexico's biggest losing bets Paul mentioned was Spaceport America, an idea first broached almost 20 tears ago. After an investment which probably exceeds $500 million after carrying costs, it now looks to be on its last legs.

It was a hot topic back then. British billionaire Richard Branson, who owned Virgin Airways, wanted to build a space tourism business flying customers into suborbital flight using a new aircraft developed by famed engineer Burt Rutan.

Branson persuaded then Governor Bill Richardson that this was a really great idea and if New Mexico built Branson a spaceport, his new company Virgin Galactic would headquarter there and this would spawn a huge industry right here in New Mexico, flying people into space, with all the attendant tourism and ancillary manufacturing, one thing after another.

Branson said he planned to build "a five-star destination experience resort" where passengers and their families would stay during 3 or 4 days of pre-flight training. He said, according to the Governor's press release, that Virgin Galactic "plans to send 50,000 customers to space in the first 10 years of operation," beginning in 2009 or 2010.

An economic impact study by NMSU estimated that by the fifth year of operation, the spaceport would have close to $1 billion in revenue, creating $350 million in new payroll and generating more than 2,800 new jobs. Another study by Futron Corporation estimated that by 2020 the spaceport would have $720 million in revenues, creating 5,280 new jobs.

Unsurprisingly, in the face of such numbers, the idea was supported by business, e.g., the Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, as well as politicians in both parties. The late Republican Dianne Hamilton of Silver City was a strong backer, as was the Chairman of the Republican Party in Dona Ana County, Sid Goddard.

On March 4, 2007, Goddard wrote a long, impassioned letter to the editor of the Las Cruces Sun Times strongly supporting a special tax on the citizens of Dona Ana County to help fund the construction and operation of the spaceport.

This was to be a .25 percent increase in the gross receipts tax for only the three counties that would benefit the most from the proposed spaceport: Otero, Dona Ana, and Sierra. As I recall, this was to show the legislators up in Santa Fe that the citizens most affected by the spaceport supported it, making it an easier vote for representatives from the rest of the state.

The tax narrowly passed in Dona Ana County, overwhelmingly passed in Sierra County where the spaceport was to be located, and was defeated, 52-48, in Otero County, showing that not everybody in the area was on board. This was in spite of many impassioned editorials by Las Cruces Sun Times editor Walt Rubel. As far as I know, this tax is still in effect in Sierra and Dona Ana counties.

The number one cheerleader, as you can imagine, was the late Governor Bill Richardson. When Virgin Galactic signed a 20-year lease agreement in late 2008, Richardson said:

"The signing of this agreement is a momentous day for the state and has cemented New Mexico as the home of commercial space travel. I want to thank Virgin for partnering with us to create a whole new industry that is going to transform the economy of Southern New Mexico, creating thousands of jobs generating money for education, boosting tourism and attracting other companies and economic opportunities for the area."

One thing the governor didn't mention was something that quite a few letters to the editor touted. Namely, that the spaceport was going to be a real inspiration to the children of New Mexico. Why, they'd begin to attend school more regularly, and they'd take up math and science and, oh my goodness, it's going to be so wonderful, so inspirational, for our children! Right. When anything is promoted as "for the children," it's an idea that needs to go into the waste can, ASAP.

As to be expected, the spaceport idea was enthusiastically supported by the liberals in New Mexico with one huge exception: David Fryxell, the publisher/editor of Desert Exposure. Fryxell raised questions about the boondoggle from day one.

The February 2006 edition of Desert Exposure had a long front page article, "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel," in which Fryxell raised some serious doubts about the spaceport. It was well researched and journalism at its finest. Similar articles in Desert Exposure appeared in the next few years. Fryxell and I didn't agree on much, but we did on the spaceport.

When Richardson left office in 2011, he said the spaceport was his proudest legacy, or something to that effect. I think it's only fitting that an absolute total boondoggle failure would be considered a legacy by a liberal Democrat. At the time, he didn't know it was going to be a boondoggle, but by 2011 the cracks in the story were starting to widen.

The reason I bring all this up is because, almost word for word, we see the same sort of promotions going on for renewable energy in New Mexico. I guarantee you, renewable energy will be just as big a boondoggle, if not bigger, than the spaceport. Unlike the spaceport, however, I don't see any liberals like Fryxell opposing the renewable boondoggle.

As an aside, the spaceport is not Richardson's greatest legacy. That honor goes to the Rail Runner Express commuter train, a project pushed by Richardson in 2006 to "reduce the greenhouse gas emission" of cars and trucks in New Mexico. This multi-billion dollar fiasco, one that has no end in sight is, as far as I know, the first and only mass transit system built where there were no masses to transit.

I'm sure Paul has plenty of material on that topic, too!