MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland Spaceport Development Board was disbanded in 2019 due to state funding being stopped, but now that board could be coming back.
"Economic diversification is huge, aerospace is very complimentary to the oil and gas industry in terms of workforce requirements, in terms of attitudes about industry, construction, manufacturing construction so it's a great natural fit for Midland," said Sara Harris, Executive Director of the Midland Development Corporation.
Now a Midland Spaceport Development Board could be reprised after it was disbanded in 2019 due to lack of funding from the state.
"There's strong indications that this legislation session that there will be funding available for spaceport infrastructure in Texas so we wanted to strategically make the move and show that Midland is invested in aerospace and we're ready to get back in the game," said Harris.
Right now it's just a matter of waiting on the state legislature to decide to invest in aerospace.
"The governor has indicated that he would like to budget $350 million for corporate aerospace in the State of Texas of course that hasn't been passed yet but it's still good indication of the direction of the legislature," said Harris.
People that will serve on the board will be Luis Sanchez, Terry Johnson, Ed Anderson, Amy Stretcher Burkes, Mayor Lori Blong, Robin Poole and Frank Kisner.
This means the board will include four people from the City of Midland and three from Midland County.
For more on the Midland Development Corporation's investment in aerospace, you can click or tap here.