freed most of the girls. america tonight, is up next, and remember, you can always get the latest news on line at our website, of course that is aljazeera.com, keep it here. terror on the seas. teenagers on a class trip among the hundreds still missing. south korea's worst ever ferry disaster, and the desperate efforts to save anyone who may have survived. also tonight, burning question. new video of the explosion that levels much of west texas one year ago. and a new question as to why so little has been

done to prevent another disaster. >> i would hope that they would take what happened here and regulate to try to save more lives. >> and vulnerable children, warehouse in nursing homes families unable to give them the help they need, and america tonight exclusive investigation, followed the money. >> thank you for joining us. we begin with what seems like echos of a disaster movie. the ship, filled with teenagers on a high school field trip, slowly submerged off the south korean coast. some 36 hours after the first calls for help, at least 25 people are confirmed dead, more than

280 still missing, at least 175 passengers rescued. and tracking the ships history for clues it was built at a japanese dock yard in 1994, it past inspections in most recently in 2014. close to 200 boats and navy shipped have joins the rescue that becomes more desperate by the hour. >> it was a life of death decision, leap into the fringed water, or follow instructions from the crew to stay put. >> these harrowing images coming from cell phones inside the ship. trapped many felt they had only one option, to say goodbye. a daughter wrote, dad, i can't walk out, the corridor is full of kids and it is too tilted. >> another from a son to his mother, mom, i might not be able to tell you in person, i love you.

now parents and survivors want to know why passengers were told to stay put, and why only one of the 46 lifeboats was with deployed. >> i was keeping still without making any movements, there was an announcement that we should not move. i think that caused more loss of lives. >> i almost got trapped, if i had been told to go outside i would have jumped into the water through the exit, but i couldn't. >> the ship left the port on april 15th, a trip that should take about 14 hours. it sank early the next morning just a few hours from it's december nation. it can carry over 900 people, in this case there were 353 staying on the fifth deck, and 87 on the fourth deck, when it capsized most of them were high school students. in their grief, relatives are striking out in anger, this man lost his

grandson. >> now he is dead, this is something we voledn't have experienced. emergency workers are battling tough seas and bad weather. >> the place is probably known to have is the second strongest current, this is why even the best divers in the country can't approach easily, because they are exposed to the danger of being sucked into the body of the ship. they have been dispatched but it is true they have not been able to carry out a direct search. >> divers plan to pump oxygen into the ship to help survivors if there are any. the water temperature is about ticket four degrees. anyone in the water might face hypothermia after just 90 minutes. the grief unmanageable, the captain can who escaped on the only lifeboat made a public apology. >> i am so sorry. and i am shamed.

i'm at a los for words. executives and employees have commit add grave sin. we sincerely apologize to the victims and their families as well as the people of the country. so await more news of their loves ones. >> we in the nation cannot practically do anything to help the people onboard. which is very sad. because of this especially the parents of the missing students onboard, feel very father less. >> so much of this seems strangely and quite sadly familiar, already you will remember two years ago, the costa congress chord yeah sunk off the italian coast after hitting rocks. both captains they delayed sounding alarm.

a man on his honeymoon shot video of the chaos onboard the concordia, when neither passengers nor the crew knew what to do. >> dean and georgia said their two daughters were onboard the costa concordia, sos spirit of survival. and there with us tonight. we appreciate you talking with us tonight, i have to think that as soon as you saw is this, it just must have brought a lot of memories back, what do you recall about that night? >> i was watching t.v.,

and when i saw that vision of that ship tempted over, my heart just sank. it was late at night, and i thought i cannot believe this. this is the one thing after the costa concordia that we wanted to avoided ever happening to anyone else again. let alone children on a violent crimian that was supposed to be a happy time for them. just like you and your family, what should have been a happy cruise, some of the descriptions we have already heard, there seem to be a lot of confusion, does that strike a chord for you? >> definitely. it sounds like the same situation on that ferry as well. seems to be a latin american of leadership on the korean per prime

minister as well. >> so there are no instructions what should you do, there wasn't a clear line of instruction? >> no. no, they just told us to scope calm, and the people telling us that were basically waiters, and galley crew, and they were not cross trained. which should be most -- i mean businesses and even service we are always cross trained to do other jobs in case someone else couldn't do it. and there was none of that on the costa concordia, i don't know how it is on the ferry, but it seemedlike a similar situation. >> it must be a hard decision, you are looking around at your family, or in the case of these young people, hearing somebody say stay in plame, just keep calm. >> the gut feeling you have to do is do what you have do do. we have to determine what

to do as a family. we can't work with everybody else, because it would be impossible. you just had to look out for yourself. >> i think the most important thing to know, all the information you are getting is not always accurate and correct. on cruise lines and cruise vessels and that's where you have to know what your instincts are and your good judgement comes into play. in our book, we go into that. these youngsters that were on this trip, they did not have that opportunity to even know what to do in a situation like this. >> you had to put yourself up to the top. >> right, we had to -- what we did to survive was unbelievable, we almost died four times and we with can only imagine what these youngsters and any adult, anyone is going through and suffering. and? being on the costa concordia, we thought that would be a wake up call for the world to take notice of what we need to do to put passenger safety at the

forefront, so that another disaster should never be happening. >> so painful to watch. dean and georgia, survivorring of the costa concordia, and of course you can learn more about your story in your book as well, thank you for being with us. among the 100 passenger vessels lost since 2002 with that's according to the maritime industry website. dr. roberto is executive director of the world ferry safety association is. if we can ask you to help us understand a little bit about some of the rules of the road so to speak on this. obviously there are not a lot of details available yet, but already we have heard things as 46 lifeboats but only one was lowers. isn't the captain supposed to go down with the ship. >> that certainly seemed inappropriate behavior. the worldwide ferry association is, is was

because of our deep concern, and our commitment to prevent them. we analyze the situation, beginning with interferry, the international ferry, so i, and the international maritime organization, a branch of the u.n., working with bangladesh, because most of the ferry fatalities have been in developing countries. the causes we discovered were poor quality vessels certainly not the case. >> in this case we are talking fact a ship that has come from south career yeah, built in japan, really developed -- >> not too old, well, within it's lifetime, a ship that was not overcrowded it was half it's capacity. a ship that did not go out in bad weather. apparently it was delayed for two hours because of

fog, but with no reports of really weather they should not have gone out, and so the final questions are what caused the incident, and then was the response by the captain and the crew appropriate. talks about the congress fusion, are there similar requirements are there any sort of special requirements for ferry safety? these are one time users people boarding and in this case very young people. should talent be some limitation on what with kind of instructions are given to them? >> in the staton island ferry there's an announcement at the beginning. this should have been some thing that was well

out of sight of land, so there should have been instructions about samety issues. certainly, where the life jackets are, musters stations. >> and who should go where at 1 point. >> exactly. >> thank you very much for being with us. executive director of the world ferry safety association. when we return, shocking new video of that deadly explosion at a fertilizer plant in west texas, one year later, what's been done to prevent another disaster like this in texas or anywhere else. >> you might as well include the whole united states of america, because every fertilizer plant

>> start with one issue education... gun control... the gap between rich and poor... job creation... climate change... tax policy... the economy... iran... healthcare... ad guests on all sides of the debate. >> this is a right we should all have... >> it's just the way it is... >> there's something seriously wrong... >> there's been acrimony... >> the conservative ideal... >> it's an urgent need... and a host willing to ask the tough questions >> how do you explain it to yourself? and you'll get... the inside story ray suarez hosts inside story weekdays at 5 eastern only on al jazeera america >> the horrific scene,

after last year's fertilizer plant explosion in west texas. just being released now, out of respect for those who dies on that day. and this was the devastating after math, the worst captainner the town's 122 year history, 15 people lost their lives hundreds of others were injured more than 120 homes were destroyed. america tonight tor con spent traveled to west texas, to see what has changed one year later. >> i didn't want with joey to be a firefighter, i honestly didn't, and we looked at me and said kelly that's what i want to do. >> kelly's husband joey was a member of the volunteer fire department, in the town of west texas. joey was a steady hand in town, active the community, he was a devout catholic and father to four. simply the kind of man kelly says you could depend on. >> he had a work phone

that constantly was going off, and he was always right there, anything they needed, joey was with there. >> and joey was there, one of the first responders the day west texas went up in flames. >> for years amona nitrate was hauled into town. thousands and thousands of pounds of a chemical used in this agricultural department town. reliable and highly explosive. the train deposited here at what was once the site of the west fertilizer plant. few people in town were aware of the danger until last april, when the plant ignited. >> take me back to that day. what do you remember? >> he called me and he said hey, i am going to need you me to meet me at the fire station. the pager just went off,

the fertilizer plant is on fire. i didn't think anything of it, i thought they would go out there and put it out. kelly drove herself to the plant to see if she could bring the firefighters food and water. i saw all the black smoke, and i was like wow that is really bad, and when i pulled in is when it all happened. people are running everywhere. crying, screaming. everybody is just in shock. chaos. >> yes. >> how far from the plant are you at this point? >> probably about 100 yards. >> sheer luck, prevented kelly from being injured. the explosion created a shock wave, faster than the speed of sound, damaged over 150 houses, and destroy add nearby apartment complex. a nursing home, and the local high school. >> by midnight that night, he didn't call, he

didn't text, that wasn't like him, he would have even in that chaotic moment, he still would have stopped to make sure we were okay. and that's when it sunk in. when i didn't get that text, or i didn't get that phone call. >> i am sure that you relive that moment in your mind countless times. >> every day. >> joey is one of 15 people killed that night, among the 12 with first responders who instantly died in the blast. hundreds of others suffered injuries, broken bones, burns, head trauma, and even blindness. >> it was really a shocking experience, for me, personally, and for the agency. >> rafael maury is the compare of the kem scal safety board. the agency charged with investigating chemical accidents. >> this is the biggest catastrophic explosion that effect as community that we have investigated. about half the town, suffered tremendous damage.

estimates oif cost we over $100 million. >> the csb's preliminary report sited several troubling facts. the ammonia nitrate was stored in flammable wooden bins in a wooden warehouse. filled with seeds. shockingly, the plant has no sprinkler system which may have distinguished the fire before it ignited the ammonium. once more, the ammonium nitrate was not subject to any regular federal inspections. >> after the tragedy the epa and the fertilizer industry both put together guidance for amoan jackie roland nigh freight storage. voluntary guidance. >> the problem with with this situation, is that the epa guidance, and what the fertilizer institute produced is

this material, are not compulsory. >> they are voluntary. they choose not to volunteer. >> the risks of ammonium fertilizer are well known. it called the worst accident in u.s. history when it center reopened plowedded aboard a ship in 1947. other 500 people were killed. it was used in the first attack on the world trade center, the oklahoma city bombing and the u.s. embassy bombings years later. >> it is ground hog day in texas. we sea the same type of tragedies happening. >> with is environmental deft fund. >> there's not a single permanent measure that's been implemented seance is the disaster a year ago, and that disaster happened while we were in the middle of a legislative session.

so there was an opportunity -- there is still an opportunity, for our state leaders to take action, and we have not seen anything. >> we wanted to speak to state officials about ammonium nigh date regulation, but the governors office the state chemists office and is the texas commission on environmental quality declined or did not respond. >> i have been a firefighter for 36 years. and to see that many firefighters die at one incident had a profound impact on me and many others. >> chris the state fire marshal is one official who did agree to sit down with us. >> we identified where the ammonium nigh freight is in the state. currently we have 97 factor ill silties. >> he says he plans to visit each of these counties personally, to raise awareness of ammonium nitrate best practices. we caught up with him at a presentation outside

dallas. >> you have been having these consultations with businesses that obviously score large quantities. but for the most part, those are voluntary, correct. >> they are all voluntary. >> so in your gut, do you believe that that's fluff to ensure that west doesn't happen again? is it sufficient. >> no, it's -- that's the policy decision that the legislature has to make. i expect there will be some regulation that will help another west. >> you are confident that the legislature is going to adopt some sort of measure, some sort of regulation in their next session is? is. >> my sense is very much so, yes. but i -- i can't guarantee that, but my conversations with the legislature, very much so, yes. >> in the meantime, his efforts are limited, texas is only one of two with states in the nation with no state fire code, meaning he has no enforcement power over

the 97 facile isties that stock pile ammonium nitrate. >> so this whole place is being develop from the ground up. >> it is, we have come a long way, in less than a year. >> we took a walk around town, with mayor to see the rebuilding effort, so far, 24 homes have been fully rescored. >> if the plant has simply had a sprinkler system, you and i might not be talking today, don't you think there should be more regulations or at least stricter oversight? >> you might as well include the whole united states of america, bought every fertilizer plant in north carolina and all over the country, has got the same problem. >> the last time it was inspected by osha was 25 years ago, one agency thought somebody else was doing, and another person not another person was doing, and come to find out nobody was doing it at all. >> despite the

rebuilding, vessels tajes of a day gone horribly wrong, are still everywhere in west. from the dyserted homes and memorials, to the high school that steamingly vanished into dust. for as long as i'm still here, it will cross my mind every day. >> are you confident this will not happen again. >> no. >> you are not. >> no. >> why not. >> i would hope that they would take what happened here in west, and regulate to try to save more lives. i can't express how important it is to me to regulate that, to somebody that hasn't lost a loved one. that and harm nearby

residents 473 of them can put over 100,000 people on risk. from a facility near them. when we return, america tonight's on going exclusive investigation. warehousing children in florida's nursing homes, even when families want to help. >> there is nobody there to really care to him, it is more like a facility of storage. of soaring the kids. >> it isn't the cost of care, but money does play a role in keeping these fragile kids where they don't belong.

>> what excites me about detroit is the feeling of possibility... >> the re-birth of an america city >> we're looking at what every city can learn from detroit,

>> the industrial revival entrepreneurs driving growth communities fighting back... >> we're fighting for you and we're taking these neighborhoods back, for you. >> a special look at the moves adding fuel to the motor city five days in detroit only on al jazeera america. stories making headlines tonight. a emany moral honored the three victims of sunday's shooting a one-year-old boy, and another vises tor to two jewish community sites were gunned down by a well known white supremacist in what police do believe was a hate crime. an agreement that could calm the crisis, the united states and europe meet in geneva, and set clear teams about what is expected from both sides within days. >> all illegal armed groups must be disarmed. that all illegally seized

buildings must be returned to their legitimate owners. and all illegally occupied streets, squares, and other public places in the ukrainian cities and towns, must be vacated. >> well, the parties agreed, president obama was openly skeptical about russian sha's intenses. 35 of those that signed up are under 35. and younger and heldier enrollees are vital. joined by the u.s. department of justices parents of medically fragile kids are suing the state, charging that it warehouses these young patients in places where they just don't belong, even when it is clear there are better options. why that happens in american tonight

exclusive investigation. he was 18 and hoping to become a firefighter when his heart stopped suddenly. the cardiac arrest that followed left him with brain damage. and andrew wound up here at kids corner, a nursing home for children. it's one of three remaining pediatric nursing homes. has anybody ever said to you, huh could be at home, with home care. has anyone ever given you an option? is. >> no. i really wished they would have. but there's nobody really to support, help, or reach out to us. it's been a struggle. found florida has planned structures and administer as system of care, that has let to the unnecessary segregation

and ice place of children. often for many years in nursing facilities. each child cares for a nursing home. that's more than 2009 that they paid for elderly residents. more even florida and court documents and is the state pays for round the clock nursing care at home. children in nursing homes are big business. >> if you follow the money, you will see the influence is incredible. >> a republican whose served in both the florida house, and senate. where she cheered the committee overseeing nursing homes. parents that we spoke to who have children who are in need of skilled nosing care, told us that although the state insists that they are given marry options can would include skilled nursing care at home, they told us they are not giving them options. >> no, they are not. when you go to talk to

those love ones. to accept major contributions to keep them out of those institutions. >> during her time, she said she saw first hand the money and power the nursing home industry wields. >> if i had a mind of my own, and a lobbyist that stuck a finger in my face and said you own me, and i looked at her and said you don't own me sister, they had gotten away with so much. >> it is a war that that state tees $3 billion nurse home industry usually wins. thanks in part to a small army of lobbyists in tallahassee is. 21 in all. that's a pretty high lobbyiest of lauers.

>> right, we have a good lobby team. that's for sure. >> how much money do they have here? is. >> this building and our senate house are driven by money. >> dan is co-founder and director of integrity florida, a nonpartisan nonprofit government watchdog group. >> in florida and increasingly across the country, lobbyist are writing the laws. they are walking into a legislative office and saying here is the bill, we want you to file it. they found the nursing home association, and is the action committees spent more than $1.8 million between 2007, and 2013. on a federal level, we are used to hearing

hundreds of millions of dollars in campaigns and all kinds of thing. >> sure. >> so is the numbers here don't sound that big, how much influence can that amount of money really buy here? >> when it comes to a member of the house of representatives or the florida senate, and you are talking about tens of thousands of dollars that's enough if targeted in the right way can put a candidate over the top to win an election. >> if you prepared a citizen is who doesn't have, not a darling of the lobbyiest, you have hard time raising money. we do support legislatures who sup is port long term care, absolutely. >> what with does that mean. >> the nursing homes depend on the legislature particularly for funding. >> and what happened to those that don't support long term care? is. >> what we want to see, is legislatures who truly do understand our mission, and what we try

to do. so, yes, during elections, if we can find legislatures who have long term care experience, we are happy to support legislatures with long term care experience. >> what they are saying is you are going to do what we say. >> during her time in office, she is says the nursing home backed her opponents because she fought the industry on issues such as minimum staffing requirements and help for families to keep those needing care at home. >> we tries to do something called aging in place, and that applied to children who needed home kay. we found that it was much cheaper for many people to keep their loved one at home, we with talked a big storm about aging in place, and then let it die. >> when we went to kid's corner our hidden camera showed children parked in the halling way, not doing anything. >> it is down time. and these children they can't play with toys.

and so in their down time, what you see is instead of being isolated in their room, they are out in the hallways are they get some stimulation. >> this down time also avoideds having to pay staff for therapy, or play, or even attention. >> for most of them, their bottom line is the least amount of care they can get away with, and the most for the stockholders and is for the c.e.o. salary. >> that's upset ising to parents, he thinks mental stimulation would help his son. >> when i show up there, there's no interaction. >> with other people. >> yes. >> staff. >> yes, with staff, nobody there to really care to him. >> and martinez even with the support of andrew's neurology, has been unable to convince kids corn tore give his son more than two with hours of speech therapy a month. >> more like a facility of storage, of storing the kids. >> i am listening just

relax. >> these facilities are highly regulated, you have multiple agencies, and ombudsman, and county, and state, and federal agent skis in there. if you are not providing quality care, you are going to get shut down. >> the influence of the nursing home lobby extends to the state agencies that write the rules and regulate the industry. question have a process, and a regulatory process, that pays attention to the big donors and the lop byiests. these children don't vote, they don't write campaign checks. they don't come up to politicians in two capitol. >> nursing homeowners and their powerful lobbyists do. >> back with us this hour, sheila, when you see that, it is so heartbreaking. >> it is. >> when you think about

what is happened, in the capitol ins a real fast and furious demand for the attention of lawmakers. >> won-60 day session is a year, if you are a lobbyiest of any industry, and you have a bill that you want to have rise to the top to get the attention of lawmakers then you will probably be writing that bill, you will be writing the regulations to go along with it, and making sure that you are spreading your campaign cash around and putting nit places where you can get your support. >> so is this means that there's a lot of manipulation going on. in fact, there's man anyonelation picking out a candidate where you won't want him. >> we know of at least one with case where the florida nursing home picks a candidate they believed would be very supportive to their issues and then jurisdiction shopped that candidate throughout florida until they were able to get him elected. >> a good fit, but they have to try several

jurisdictions until they got it. they are doing the same thing now. campaigns are very expensive. and what that means is that you look to big donors you look to big industry, whether it's newing home, utilities anything, that has a lobby presence. coming up next, saving detroit. >> don't give up. see may always say, abandon ship, no, no abandon ship here, we are not going to give up, we will keep pushing. that's life itself. >> trying to strike a deal to keep the motor city running.

a chilling reminder of the holocaust in ukraine.

told they have to register their property or face deportation. have labeled president obama the deporter and chief. but new nebraskas challenge that claim. plus, the preponderate triumphantly claimed 8 million americans registered for obama-care, but is he exaggerating the plan's success? and are corporations become sneaky in giving you to give up rights? when question see you at the top of the hour. signs of a break through coming from key negotiators. to reduce the pay out to thousands of former employ joes followin folloe story of one retired couple that says that any cuts could prove disastrous. we are headed for a big problem. i don't know what to do then. >> i don't either. >> the nurse, 71-year-old grade and i and his wife are the faces of a

bankrupt city. a couple who live on the pension check that detroit promised them. a check that a bankruptcy deal may dramatically shrink. >> the amount of money they are talking about knocking out of your check, is half of it is your rent, or your house note. these people are going to suver, period. >> it is forcing them to ask questions that once seems unthinkable, how will i live, how will i make it. i am with already living close to poverty line as it is. to me. like i said, whether i choose for medicine, or food, i won't be able to go anywhere. >> but a new proposal from emergency manager may lessen their pain. the pending settlement would cut pensions from

retired city workers by 4.5%, and limit the cost of living adjustments but detroit had culled for cuts by as much as 34%. america tonight first sat down with them at their home last august, before the cuts were announced. >> if they cut anything away from me, i don't know how i will survive. >> bennie told us she chose a career working for the city, rather than the auto industry, providing a more stable retirement option, or so she thought. at 71 he received 885-dollar as month in pension, but now that in jeopardy. >> the city is trying to kill us all off. all the people that's retired because they aren't going to take care of us. >> since retiring in 1997, brady has suffered serious health problems he undergoes die allsis

is twice a week, and a couple of years ago he lost his eye site. but he never lost the memory of the detroit he once loved so fondly. don't give up. see, they always say abandon ship, no, no abandon ship here, we won't give up, we will keep pushing. >> but that hope seemed to have gone off course, the city experienced record low temperatures this past winter, the river froze over, and the plan aimed to avoided fiscal melt down could prove to be financial break down. that's a lot of money. >> a lot of funds. yo i are looking at anywhere from two to $300 a more out of a paycheck. a person getting 800-dollar as month on pension, and trying to run this next $300 of it, what are you going to do. >> detroit's bankruptcy plan is designed to slash

the city's $18 billion debt. the city also reach add deal with the police and fire retiement system, those pensions would not be decreased, but cost of living increases would be cut in half. these people that work for the city, are going to catch the devil trying to make ends meet. >> u.s. bankruptcy judge must still approve the plan before it is put in place, that process could take several months. feeling helpless, vinny says she sent a letter the judge. >> i told judge roads that i am going to have to build two with holes in my backyard, two graves. and when me and my husband die or whatever dies first, we will just bury them in the backyard, because i can't afford burial insurance or put money aside for that, because they have taken everything away. >> to 21,000 other

detroit retirees the largest bankruptcy in u. history is deeply personal. chris fury, al jazeera, detroit. >> all week, al jazeera america is presented five days in detroit, a series illustrating the challenges and the changes confronting the motor city. tonight at 11:00 p.m. eastern on al jazeera america. ahead in our final thoughts this hour, a billionaire and his big eye, the mobile who made his money on earth, but now wants to launch his hotels into space. i

take a new look at news. thinking about how tough it is to aim high these day. the space program is is being cut by $85 million.

the space shuttle has been moth balled. so who is is left to roam in the final frontier? in a fault lines report, josh rushing on space up for sale. >> billionaires with designs on space rarely go on record, but one of them did return our calls. >> i have met him very briefly, a couple of times. eh impressed me as a really las vegas kind of guy. he winked at me. and that seemed very 70's. this particular space entrepreneur made his money from a terrestrial hotel chain. budget suites of america. it has turned robert big gathering low into a billionaire, and now he wants to put it into launch the first hotel in space. mr. big gathering low invited fault lines to visit his sprawling property.

>> he has his own police force out here. >> i will get you signed in everything. >> okay. >> it's heavily guarded by his own armed security personnel. >> this is the tightest security i have ever experienced outside of a u.s. military base in iraq. >> big low aerospaces unofficial logo an alien face is plastered throughout his property. he has spent millions investigating alien sitings. >> if you do the home work, there's no way to exam that and not be convinced that it is real. there's no way. especially if you have access to certain information, and source ises and so on, and i do. >> these are the habitats that big low aerospaces is developing. his next plan have one of

his inflatable hotels on the moon. >> that's one interesting thing about volumes in spacey vulnerable children a lot more possibilities of the areas you can use. >> sure is. >> is that's the sleeping quarters for six people. >> yeah, all the way around, so each one of those little cavities is for one person. ultimately, maybe around 22 or three. we might be ready to deploy this lunar base. >> what gives you the right to have a lunar base? to put something on the moon? is. >> so it's not as though there is a particular given right per se, as much as an opportunity. >> it sounds like you are saying the moon is there for the taking. >> oh, i think it is. i think there's a really interesting dynamic here going on about ten or 12 years out, i have talked about this in public, and i think the moon is an enormous valuable asset, more direct to the value of the moon itself, well, what can you bring home

that has high value. maybe it's helium 3, i don't know. people talk about it for decades. there's large quantities there, there's no quantity of helium 3 here. it is difficult to expressed tract. extract. i think that problem is probably solvable, and it offered a promise of completely new energy source. >> when it comes to energy oversight, he isn't too concerned. in fact, he would prefer the federal government stay out of it, sort of. >> our whole behavior is so opposite to washington, d.c., in general, it's pa nettic. we don't want anything to do with washington, d.c. with. >> speaking to nasa, but you sign add contract with nasa for $18 million. >> being willing to criticize nasa, or government in general, doesn't make us stupid enough not to take the money when it is offered to us.

>> the rocket motor burned for a bit, and then it turns off, and the moment it turns off everything inside the ship will become weightless. yo was will be able to get out of your seat, float around, and then sort of come back in, and ask people to get back in their seats and you will just do a glide using the wings of the vehicle down to the runway you took off from. virgin galactic, plans to take customers for a ride into low earth orbit to experience zero gravity. flights are expected to begin this year. leonardo dicaprio is signed up as paying customers,s price of a ticket? $250,000. george white sox is is virginia gathering alley ba tick ceo. >> we have a carrier aircraft where it releases and it fires the

rocket motor, makes a turn, and you start heading out that mock three. >> the construction began more than six years ago, and the cost more than $200 million. no small feat even for a billionaire. >> virgin galactic. >> the founder of the company, the inauguration was on occasion for champagne, but that could be because he is not paying for it. >> he did not contribute a dime to the construction of this project. >> how much has he given to the local community? >> to my knowledge absolutely nothing. the space port was built here. one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states in america. 20 with 5% of the people here live below the

poverty line. residents will be paying a sales tax for the next 15 years to cover their contribution to the building of the space port. and almost no one here can afford to take a ride in space. >> the people that would be able to afford it, would come in thin own private jet, take that you are own limo, do their flight, taking their limo back, and fly back home. i think it would be they come in come out. >> now it is just there, it is a building that is out there. nobody visits it, i haven't even heard when the flights are going to start. people are already paying for tickets, i don't see any money. >> so it's just -- it is just a beat. >> karen perez is a former county commissioner. she is says that the county voted to approve the tax, after being promised jobs. >> they are hungry. they are looking for jobs. and again, these were jobs promised at all

levels. this isn't hi-tech haifa lieutenanting jobs. these were real boots oven the grounds types of jobs. our governor promised us, anywhere from 1500, to 5,000 new jobs. associated with this, endeavor, and we were excited about the construction. we had a love of contractors here, that do earth work, and concrete work, and utility work, and we had a lot of high hopes. >> what happened. >> none of that materialized. >> almost all of the construction contracts went to companies from albuquerque or out of state. >> to watch all of the report state inc. saturday at 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. eastern. and that's it for us tonight, good night, we will have more of america torrent tomorrow. >>

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