There?s definitely something out of this world about a plan to turn the abandoned NASA tracking station at St. David?s into a national park and nature reserve ? and that?s the apparent assumption that the American space agency will be happy to hand over millions of dollars to help out.

Bermuda is to seek an unspecified portion of $5 million from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration even though the US agency paid out $11 million when it quit the Cooper?s Island installation in 2001. Questions are now being asked about how the Government intends to approach NASA as a possible sponsor for the project in view of the fact that the space agency has already given so much to discharge its responsibility to the future decommissioning of the site.

Cooper?s Island has long been a haven for wildlife, birds and native fauna because of its relatively undisturbed remoteness.

Its use as a NASA tracking station during the golden era of the space race, with involvement in the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab missions, was also mostly benign.

There is cross-party support for a bold vision to preserve one of the largest tracts of relatively undeveloped land in Bermuda for the future enjoyment of Bermudians and visitors, while at the same time providing a sanctuary for native species of plants and wildlife. But the opposition United Bermuda Party has questioned the maths that go along with the Environment Ministry?s draft plan for the peninsula.

It is estimated that $8 million is needed to turn the site into a national park and nature reserve.

When Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield presented the draft proposals to the House of Assembly it included a breakdown of how much it will cost, complete with itemised suggestions regarding where the funding might be found.

Restoring the former mission control building into a new visitor centre and museum is the biggest single expense envisaged for the project and carries a price tag of $4 million, with potential funders listed as NASA, unspecified international funding, local support and volunteers and the Government.

The same potential funders has been lined up to pick up a near $900,000 tab required to convert the former radar building to an astronomy centre and observation tower for bird and whale watching.

And the space agency is again listed as a potential cash source for the $300,000 needed for a general environmental clean-up of the site.

In giving her presentation Mrs Butterfield said: ?Ideally, funds could be made available from the Bermuda Government, international foundations, private local donors as well as some modest economic return from charging an entrance free.?

But how much, if any, is NASA expected to inject into the project?s budget considering its $11 million payment to the Government only four years ago?

That was what perplexed Shadow Environment Minister Cole Simons who, having welcomed the draft scheme in principal, questioned the accuracy of the budgeting and the list of potential funders.

?I question the total cost of the project. The only real scepticism I have in this report is how much credence can we place on this $8 million,? he said, adding that he was waiting for Mrs Butterfield to expand on how that total had been arrived at and who had priced up the estimates.

He said he was loath to support the project?s costings until he had seem some concrete evidence of how they had been calculated, and asked: ?The US Government paid us off in 2001 with a $11 million price tag and I would like the Minister to explain how and why would NASA come up with this additional money to underwrite the cost of the environmental clean-up and the replacement of the radar building??

He also questioned the lack of a time-frame for when project would be carried out and completed.

Opposition Leader Dr. Grant Gibbons also asked if the list of potential funders, including NASA, has been approached.

?There is quite a lot of money mentioned here, but what if it is all just speculation?? he said.

The question of the NASA funding was not answered during the session in which the House was asked to take note of the draft report.