WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 -- Filemon "Phil" Esquivel, Jr. is the mayor of a small Texas town, but like any good Texan he thinks big. He wants Congress to back a plan to build a space launch site on the outskirts of his coastal town, Kingsville.
Esquivel, 36, will be in Washington this week lobbying legislators to support the construction of a launch pad on 258,000 acres in Kenedy County. From there, rockets and re-usable space vehicles could haul commercial satellites into orbit or ferry parts to the International Space Station.
"I would like to diversify our national economy into space deliveries," he said, sounding almost like a presidential candidate. "It would be an injustice to South Texas, and the entire nation, not to do it."
Esquivel, who said he was part of a team of local politicians pushing the idea, plans to meet with Sen. Phil Gramm, the powerful Texas Republican, to ask for his support.
The launch site surely would be the biggest attraction Kingsville -- population 28,000 -- has seen in a long time.
Located about 100 miles from the Mexican border, the town already boasts a naval base, a big pharmaceutical company, the sprawling King Ranch and a branch of Texas A&M university. But a spaceport would bring 6,000 new jobs, transforming the town.
"My goal is to provide a quality standard of living, and that’s why I am pushing so hard for this," Esquivel said. "Regionally it’s very important. It will produce quality jobs."
Esquivel, a part-time insurance agent now in his second term in office, said the project is gaining ground. Space launch companies, federal authorities and his local constituents all seem to agree that the Kenedy County site is perfect.
"People are fired up," he said.
But the project faces a big hurdle at the federal level. Investors have shied away from building a spaceport; choosing to wait for Congress to decide on a bill that would greatly reduce the risk of private investors who put money into the project.
The so-called Breaux bill, named after sponsor Sen. John Breaux, (D-Louisiana), would offer $500 million in federally backed loan guarantees to the commercial space launch industry. But the measure is stalled in committee negotiations and has garnered only lukewarm support in Congress in the past.
"Without that guarantee it’s hard for investors to put dollars into a re-usable launch vehicle venture," Esquivel said.
Esquivel plans to present a resolution to the U.S. Conference of Mayors in the nation's capital asking for support. Backed by the mayors of San Antonio and Houston, he will make the case that the port is of major importance not just to his region, but to the nation.
"You have China, Russia and France deploying the majority of satellites," he said. "We’re seriously behind [in] deploying commercial geosynchronous telecommunications satellites."
Esquivel said some small, independent launch companies and the Federal Aviation Administration, which must approve the site, prefer Texas to other areas like Florida and California. The Texas site, he noted, is easily accessible by water, railroads and major highways.
"To some it’s a distant dream, and to some it’s realistic," he said. "We are a diamond in the rough."
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