Locals Threaten to Ground Space Tourism Plans

Plans for the world's first commercial space flights may be well advanced, but lift-off is facing an unexpected snag: the residents of the sleepy county of Dona Ana in New Mexico.

The New Mexico state government opted for a deserted area abutting the county as the site of Spaceport America, launchpad for paying customers who want to visit space. Among companies backing the project are Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. The first flights, which would take people into space for two-and-a-half hours and cost $200,000 (£100,000), are scheduled for late 2009 or early 2010.

But the residents of Dona Ana county, an area near the Mexican border whose economy depends on cotton, chillies and ranching, are holding a referendum on the project on April 3.

The New Mexico site was chosen because the weather is consistently dry and clear, the area is relatively free of people - in case of an accident - and because it is a mile above sea level, making it easier and cheaper to get into space.

Although the state government is funding most of the $198m cost of the spaceport, residents in neighbouring counties are being asked to make up the shortfall with an increase in local sales taxes. Sierra county, which would host the spaceport, and Otero county, which could become a manufacturing hub, are waiting to see what happens in the referendum.

Some of the Dona Ana residents planning to vote against say they like the idea of the spaceport but not the tax, and question why some of the poorest people in the state should be expected to pay.

Supporters of the spaceport, including the New Mexico governor and Democratic presidential hopeful, Bill Richardson, argue that the residents will benefit economically in the long run, producing thousands of new jobs and helping to lift the area out of poverty.

In the Las Cruces Sun-News, Richard Homans, secretary of the New Mexico state economic development department and chairman of the Space Authority, warned residents: "It's important for people to know that if they support the spaceport, they should support the tax, because without the tax there's no spaceport."

Oscar Vasquez Butler, a Dona Ana county commissioner, is urging residents to vote against. In the same paper, he says what the supporters fail to mention is the downside of transition from a rural to a high-tech, urban economy: "More crime, drug and alcohol addictions, gangs, high-density development, traffic congestion, air pollution/smog ... Is this what you want for yourself and children? Do we really want to grow and develop to become another Los Angeles or Phoenix?"

The money is to build a two-mile runway, a terminal, roads and a welcome centre. Work is due to begin next year.

Another critic of the tax, Arturo Uribe, president of the Mesquite citizens' action committee, told the Albuquerque Journal that he supported the project but not the tax. He said it would hit low-income residents hardest, for a project that would provide short rides into space for the rich.