FAA again delays final decision on Georgia spaceport permit September 29, 2021

 

FAA again delays final decision on Georgia spaceport permit

September 29, 2021
FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2008, file photo, a wild horse grazes next to the ruins of the Dungeness mansion in the south end of Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia National Seashore.  A federal agency is once again delaying a final decision on whether to permit construction of a launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021,  it now plans to issue a decision on Spaceport Camden by Nov. 3.   (AP Photo/Chris Viola, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 20, 2008, file photo, a wild horse grazes next to the ruins of the Dungeness mansion in the south end of Cumberland Island in Camden County, Georgia National Seashore. A federal agency is once again delaying a final decision on whether to permit construction of a launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, it now plans to issue a decision on Spaceport Camden by Nov. 3. (AP Photo/Chris Viola, File)

KINGSLAND, Ga. (AP) — A federal agency said Wednesday it’s once again delaying a final decision on whether to permit construction of a launchpad for commercial rockets on the Georgia coast.

The Federal Aviation Administration now plans to issue a decision on Spaceport Camden by Nov. 3 “due to ongoing consultation efforts,” agency spokesman Steve Kulm said in a statement. Previously, the FAA had said it intended to make a final determination on the project by the end of July, then shifted its target date to the end of September.

Camden County in Georgia’s coastal, southeast corner has spent nine years and $10 million seeking permission to build what would be the nation’s 13th licensed commercial spaceport. The proposal took a big step forward in June, when the FAA issued an environmental impact study that concluded building the spaceport would be its “preferred alternative.”

ADVERTISEMENT

The National Park Service and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, pushed back over the summer. They dispute the FAA’s conclusion that the spaceport poses minimal risks or adverse impacts to Cumberland Island, a federally protected wilderness that lies along the proposed flight path for rockets 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of the launch site.

In a July 22 letter to the FAA, the Interior Department said a chance of rockets exploding and raining fiery debris onto the island creates an “unacceptable risk.” Known for wild horses and nesting sea turtles, Cumberland Island draws about 60,000 visitors each year.

Local officials say the county of 55,000 people would get a soaring economic boost by joining the commercial space race, with a private launch pad luring both supporting industries and tourists.

It’s not clear how much weight the objections will carry with the FAA, which is responsible for licensing U.S. commercial rocket launch sites. In 2014, the agency approved SpaceX’s launch site in Texas over objections by the Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Comments

Popular Posts

By FSJ 16/09/2025. The Housing and the Affordability issue: The architect said lets reason together as we build and design an energetic future with financially energized people; a discussion. By Mary Godwhen. Click here. BW Where would it go if I reverse engineer a "BAPE" shoe logo? Charles cares. He has vowed to have the most able and responsive Tiger economy in Europe and North America and the most safe and ably funded citizens in those regions; his citizens, his people. It is that we will be the economic winners; not losers; at the top and not the bottom...in front and not at the back. It would only take him a day to get it going. We can design anything. Certainly, anything we design demands and requires people with money for us to enjoy it; if it's a restaurant, an amusement park, a shopping centre or a town or city in general. The Bugatti sellers will have more sales and the Vauxhall owners will finally make full payment for the shopping and vacations; for their vehicles also. We do not enjoy suffering, lack or insufficiency. But maybe a vengeful bum might. Money is important. It has to be important. So, why are we incessantly brought to have this conversation about income support rather quite often when observing the economies west of Calais as run by; whom? Laissez Faire is not an economic policy but the policy of no policy in light of industrial mechanization of labor and the social problems it occasions when the families do not have enough money to buy their coal for heat, milk, bananas and vegetables. They would usually just take what they need; wherever they can take it. The economy is run by whom? The income support in Vermont, Minnesota and Massachusetts exceeds $70000.00 per year. This should be so for the whole, entire continent. But, some states and provinces, not all, are being run by income support benefit men touring boxes of undistributed emergency debit cards that they can now hand out to people in those camps. They seek public attention more than public efficacy. They have had enough time to solve the obvious. Money is the obvious issue but you wouldn't be waiting for an God fearing man to come and campaign on this issue when we know you can see the problem and solve it for us. We do not enjoy suffering, lack or insufficiency. But maybe a vengeful bum might. They are experimenting with money in terms of crypto or bit coin and its definition before they would agree to just HAVE MONEY. Money is the most important weapon in spite of all your Oppenheimer detonators that can't read help during peace time and for what when you would still need money?