Posts Tagged ‘Deming’

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News

By Diana M. Alba

LAS CRUCES – Squeezing in a stop here while en route to London, Virgin Galactic’s president and CEO told spaceport officials Tuesday that the company remains committed to basing its suborbital flight operations in New Mexico.

George Whitesides addressed the new board of directors of Spaceport America for the first time since an abrupt change in spaceport leadership that was carried out by Gov. Susana Martinez. It was also the first session attended by Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson, hired last week by the board.

“The primary message we wanted to share, and the reason I’m here is to express a desire to continue to be a strong partner with the spaceport for the taxpayers of New Mexico,” Whitesides said. “We are all making a very big investment together.”

While addressing the board, Whitesides noted the state is planning to spend about $200 million in constructing the spaceport and said Virgin Galactic is “investing somewhere on the order of $400 million to develop its spaceflight vehicles.” “These are nontrivial investments,” he said. “We take this project very seriously at all levels. And the relationship between our organization and the state and particularly the Spaceport Authority and staff is going to be of critical importance as we drive to successful commercial operations over the coming years.”

Whitesides, a former chief of staff for NASA, was hired last year as CEO for Virgin Galactic, considered the spaceport’s anchor tenant company. This year, he was named president, too.

Spaceport board Chairman Rick Holdridge of Deming said he invited Whitesides to the board’s meeting during a teleconference soon after Anderson was hired on Feb. 28, and, “to his credit, he made it happen.” Holdridge said he didn’t pick up any new message Tuesday. “I very much appreciated his commitment to this new board,” he said. “They’re reiterating the commitment Virgin Galactic has to New Mexico in the form of having operations out of New Mexico.”

Virgin Galactic has signed a 20-year agreement with the state, committing to launch suborbital spaceflights from Spaceport America in southeastern Sierra County. Whitesides said the company is “very encouraged with the progress of Spaceport America.”

Construction of the $209 million spaceport is about 70 to 80 percent complete, Chad Rabon, a spaceport staff member, told the board Tuesday.

Martinez didn’t waste time making spaceport leadership changes upon taking office Jan. 1. She called for the resignations of the previous board, appointed by Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Director Rick Homans. The board was reappointed in February, but the abruptness of the change and the fact the agency was without a director or deputy director had stirred concern among some spaceport advocates. Martinez confirmed that at one point, billionaire Richard Branson – who heads Virgin Group, the parent company of Virgin Galactic – called and asked her to retain Homans as director.

Holdridge said he met Whitesides once before, when he flew in for a visit with him and state Economic Development Secretary Jon Barela. That was not long after Holdridge was appointed to the chairman post.

Branson said during a visit to the spaceport last fall that the company was expecting to launch its first suborbital flights from Spaceport America between mid-summer of this year and spring of 2012.

Tuesday, Whitesides said the company’s flight test program is progressing, but “we still have a ways to go.” Virgin Galactic plans to use a two-vehicle system, comprised of a carrier plane and a rocket-powered spaceship, to carry passengers to suborbital space.

In all, the carrier plane, WhiteKnightTwo, has completed 49 flights, Whitesides told the spaceport board. The spaceship’s rocket motor is being developed, but glide testing, in which the vehicle is carried aloft and released, is continuing, he said. “We’ve got four glide tests of the spaceship successfully completed,” he said. “A fifth will be coming up soon.”

Holdridge said Whitesides flew to the Las Cruces airport Tuesday morning on a charter plane, and then left from El Paso on his way to London.

Anderson was present at Tuesday’s meeting but deferred most presentations to spaceport staff, saying she’s still catching up to speed on the spaceport project. All but one member of the spaceport board were present in person at the meeting, held at New Mexico State University’s main campus. Board member Scott Krahling, also a Dona Ana County commissioner, didn’t attend because a county commission meeting was held at the same time.

Diana M. Alba can be reached at (575) 541-5443.

Release courtesy of the Governor’s Office

SANTA FE – Governor Susana Martinez announced today that she has made appointments to all positions on the Spaceport Authority Board of Directors. The appointments come as the Martinez administration continues to review all boards and commissions to make necessary adjustments and ensure that New Mexico’s taxpayers receive the best possible return on their investment. Each member has agreed not to conduct business with the Spaceport for two years after leaving their position on the board.

“I believe that with the right leadership and the right approach, the Spaceport can be a successful venture that brings jobs to New Mexico,” said Governor Martinez. “New Mexico’s taxpayers have made a significant investment in the Spaceport project. It’s time to see the project through to completion by bringing in private funding. In order to let taxpayers know that their government will operate in an open and honest manner, I have also asked each board member to make a commitment that they will not conduct business with the Spaceport for two years after their tenure on the board ends. I look forward to working with the new board members to ensure that we responsibly develop the Spaceport to its full potential, bring new jobs into New Mexico, and give taxpayers a healthy return on their investment.”

The members of the Spaceport Authority Board of Directors are listed below.

•        Chairman Richard Holdridge is a retired Air Force officer from Deming whose military service included a heavy focus on satellite program acquisition and overseeing the manufacturing, planning, and operation of United States Department of Defense satellite programs. After retiring from the Air Force, Holdridge was elected to the Deming City Council, where he served from 1998 to 2000. He currently manages his family’s real estate development and farming businesses in southern New Mexico. Holdridge earned his B.S. in Astronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy, his M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Dayton, and his PhD in Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University.

•        Irvin Diamond is a Certified Public Accountant and a Senior Principal at REDW Stanley Financial Advisers in Albuquerque. He is also a Certified Financial Planner and chairs the Board of Directors at Amerinst Insurance Group. Diamond holds degrees from John Carroll University and the University of New Mexico.

•        Sid Gutierrez is a former NASA astronaut who currently serves as Director of ES&H and Emergency Management as well as Chief of Safety for Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. Gutierrez piloted the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1991 and served as Mission Commander for the Space Shuttle Endeavor in 1994. He also served on NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel and International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation Taskforce. Gutierrez earned his B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy and his M.A. in Personnel Management from Webster University.

•        Jerry Stagner is the President of Citizens Bank in Truth or Consequences. He also served as President of State National Bank and has an extensive background in the banking field. Stagner holds a B.B.A from Eastern New Mexico University. He previously served as a member of the Spaceport Authority Board of Directors.

•        David Buchholtz is an attorney at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP in Albuquerque. His practice includes government finance law, economic development and state tax incentive law, financial institutions law, securities law, and corporate law. Buchholtz has been a private practice attorney since 1976. He is a founder and member of the Board of Directors of Think New Mexico and also served as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico Law School. He earned his B.A. from the State University of New York at Binghamton and his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

•        Scott Krahling is a marketing consultant from Las Cruces who specializes in developing and implementing marketing plans for small businesses and real estate clients in Dona Ana County. Krahling also serves as a member of the Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners. He holds a B.A in Government and Journalism & Mass Communications from New Mexico State University.

•        Benjamin Woods serves as the Senior Vice President for External Relations and Chief of Staff at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, managing the Office of Government Relations as well as the University Communications and Marketing Services in that capacity. Woods has served as an administrator at NMSU since 1987, working in multiple fields for the university, including Planning, Physical Resources, and University Relations. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University and earned his M.B.A from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Woods previously chaired the Spaceport Authority Board of Directors.

Release Courtesy of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson

SANTA FE – Governor Bill Richardson today commended Sapphire Energy, Inc. for a successful application to the U.S. Department of Energy for a grant to launch a new multi-million dollar algae biofuels demonstration project in Luna County, New Mexico.

Sapphire Energy has been awarded a $50 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as well as a loan guarantee of $54.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The San Diego-based company plans to build a demonstration project in Luna County near Columbus and Deming. The company also has a research and development complex in Las Cruces.

The grant award is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the loan guarantee is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Biorefinery Assistance Program, authorized through the 2008 Farm Bill.

“Investments in advanced biofuels are crucial to improve America’s energy independence and to keep energy dollars at home,” Governor Richardson said. “This project will create jobs, invest in new technology and boost the economy in rural New Mexico.”

The project is being funded to demonstrate the technology developed by Sapphire Energy to produce a large scale algae facility which cultivates algae in open ponds to produce Green Crude which can be refined into fuels.

The project is expected to create 750 direct and indirect jobs. Sapphire has an option to buy roughly 2,200 acres of land near Columbus. With the infusion of capital from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the company plans to build a demonstration project to validate the economics of large scale algae to energy production. As part of the project the company also plans to set up an extraction facility to convert the oil from the algae into Green Crude which can be refined into a variety of fuels.

“Governor Richardson is a true advocate for smarter energy resources,” Sapphire Chief Executive Officer Jason Pyle said. “His leadership has played a crucial role in the federal grant funding for our algae-based fuel work. This is a win-win for New Mexico, Luna County, and Sapphire Energy.”

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is holding additional public scoping meetings to seek input and discuss with the public a proposed study expansion area for the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project.

Three open-house public scoping meetings along the expanded study area will be held in the following New Mexico communities. All meetings will be from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Las Cruces, October 26, 2009 – Court Youth Center, 402 West Court

Alamogordo, October 27, 2009 -First National Bank, 414 Tenth Street

Chaparral, October 28, 2009 -Chaparral High School, 800 County Line Drive

The project is a proposed 460 mile high capacity 500 kilovolt (kV) transmission line (or two parallel lines) across New Mexico and Arizona. The project proponent, SunZia Transmission LLC, is proposing to transport electricity generated by power generation resources, including primarily renewable resources, to western power markets and load centers. The BLM is the lead Federal agency which will oversee the preparation of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that will identify environmental impacts and evaluate alternatives for the project.

Numerous comments during the initial public scoping meetings included requests to consider alternative routes. Suggested transmission line corridors for consideration in New Mexico are potential routes south of the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in Dona Ana County and along the eastern boundary of the WSMR in Otero and Lincoln counties. These corridors in the New Mexico area could provide alternative routes between the Midpoint Substation site near Deming, and the proposed SunZia-East Substation termination site in Lincoln County

A map of the proposed expansion area and more information regarding the project are available on BLM-SunZia Transmission Line Project website.