All agog over Richard Branson’s rocket ride to space last week from Virgin Galactic’s spaceport in Southern New Mexico, no journalist has seen fit to put this business through the kind of investigation that resulted in the New Mexico’s analysis of the benefit to the state coming from the film industry.

Spaceport America stood empty and silent for years after the state supplied millions of dollars in taxpayer money to get it started. Now, with the prospect of 600 rich people willing to pay $250,000 for a ride, we deserve to know how all this money is going to benefit our state. What are the implications for New Mexico tax revenue? Are there any jobs beyond janitorial offered at the spaceport for New Mexico residents? And, most important, what is the water consumption for this project and what are the environmental results of fuel and fumes blasted in the stratosphere?

Maybe the best we can do is sell T-shirts advertising, “New Mexico: Home to Billionaire’s Toy.”

Sallie Bingham

Santa Fe