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From: Pat Bahn (bahn@tgv-rockets.com) Dear Friend of the Future: If you are getting this, it is because you believe in a better future, or are friends with someone who does. Many of us are tired of waiting for NASA to establish a future course and are willing to try a different set of directions. Chief among this group of new pioneers is the State of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority (OSIDA) www.okspaceport.state.ok.us. OSIDA has been active in working with a number of small companies in trying to pioneer a new set of space industries. OSIDA is also working to open a commercially licensed spaceport at Burns Flats. Licensing a spaceport requires following a complex set of federal regulations as described by the FAA (http://ast.faa.gov). In order to license the spaceport at Burns Flats, OSIDA is attempting to get a congressional earmark for the 2003 budget authorization. NASA has no interest in assisting to license an inland spaceport, so this must be done using congressional authority. In order to make this happen, we need to get report language and funding moved through the Congress. The time is short, but the level of funding is low. We need to work the Senate Appropriations Committee, the Senate authorization committee for NASA (the Senate Commerce Committee), the House Appropriations Committee and the House authorization committee for NASA (the House Science Committee). While there are members of Congress signed up to support this earmark, there are apparently severe forces of opposition gathering, particularly among certain congressional staff. We must overcome this resistance, to make sure that no last minute maneuvers sideline this very important activity. We need your help to contact the following members of congress. If you are a constituent of these Members of Congress, your assistance is particularly vital - contact them! If you are not a constituent of any of these Members, you can still help - please then contact the Chairmen and Ranking Minority Members ("RRMs") listed below. (Links to US Senator official websites.) Senate Appropriators --- Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) (Chairman VA/HUD Appropriations
Subcommittee which funds NASA) Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) House Appropriators --- Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young (R-FL) Chairman Rep. James T. Walsh (R-NY) (Chairman VA/HUD Appropriations
Subcommittee) Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Rep. Virgil H. Goode, Jr. (I-VA) Senate Authorizers --- Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) Chairman Senator George Allen (R-VA) (RRM of Science, Space, &
Technology Subcommittee) House Authorizers --- Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) Chairman Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) (Chairman of Space & Aeronautics
Subcommittee) Rep. Nick Lampson (D_TX) If you are a constituent of any of the above named individuals, please contact them; otherwise please contact the Chairmen and Ranking Minority Members ("RRMs") asking them to please --- 1) Support the appropriation of $1 million to be transferred from the NASA budget to the Oklahoma Space Industrial Development Authority; and 2) That the following report language be added to the NASA Authorization and Appropriation Bills:
This funding level should be adequate to let OSIDA license the Burns Flats Spaceport, a vital element of progress for the new commercial companies. Burns Flats is being examined for use by Pioneer Rocketplanes, XCOR Aerospace, Armadillo Aerospace, Space Adventures, Vela Technology, TGV Rockets, and a host of other firms. If you are from Oklahoma, please take time to call your Representative and thank them for their support on this issue. The entire Oklahoma Congressional Delegation is supporting this issue, and it is important that they hear from constituents about their support for this activity. Please feel free to contact your own representatives and ask them to write their colleagues. Your congressperson can be located by http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html and entering your zip code. Please be polite and professional. |
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