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 Advocates say the proposed spaceport is needed to retain and
expand Florida's aerospace industry, which lost about 8,000 NASA and
civilian jobs after the shutdown of the space shuttle program in
2011.
Opponents of the plan to carve out about 200 acres from the
140,000-acre (57,000-hectare) Merritt Island National Wildlife
Refuge cite concerns over protecting the refuge's water, seashore,
plants and wildlife, which include 18 federally listed endangered
species.
"It's a very pristine, natural area. It's clear water … very unique.
You don't have that anywhere else in Florida," said Ted Forsgren
with Coastal Conservation Association of Florida, which strongly
opposes the project.
Advocates point to blueprints for new commercial spaceports in
Texas, Georgia, Arizona and other states that will operate under the
more business-minded Federal Aviation Administration, rather than as
a guest of NASA or the U.S. military, which run Kennedy Space Center
and the adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station primarily in
support of their own missions.
"When NASA is again aggressively launching to the moon or Mars or
asteroids or wherever we end up going, I don't see them standing
down to allow commercial activity to proceed unimpeded," said Dale
Ketcham, a strategist with the Space Florida economic development
agency that is spearheading the proposed Shiloh Launch Complex.
The site on the Merritt Island refuge that the state wants to carve
out for a commercial space launch complex would house one or two
launch pads, processing hangars and support facilities, which would
be built with private funds.
Prospective tenants include Blue Origin, a startup rocket company
owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and Space Exploration
Technologies, which is owned and operated by technology entrepreneur
Elon Musk and which already flies its Falcon 9 rockets from leased
Air Force launch pads in Florida and California.
The first public hearing on the project was hosted by the FAA on
Tuesday in New Smyrna Beach. A second hearing is planned for
Wednesday in Titusville. The environmental assessment and related
studies are expected to take about 18 months.
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WORRIES ABOUT LOSS OF PUBLIC ACCESS
Opponents cite environment threats, saying the project could upset
habitats of the threatened Florida scrub jay, among other wildlife,
and expose the Indian River lagoon system to potential contamination
in case of a launch accident.
Critics also worry about the public's loss of access to the wildlife
refuge and the undeveloped beaches of Canaveral National Seashore
during rocket launches and ground tests.
Charles Lee with Audubon Florida environmental advocacy group says
rocket launches from Shiloh, a former citrus community located north
of Kennedy Space Center, would force the state to shut down public
access to the refuge for safety reasons far more often than Space
Florida says.
"At best they don't know. If they do know, they're not being candid
with the public," Lee said.
The refuge drew nearly 1.2 million visitors and generated more than
$60 million in economic benefits in 2012, a recently released study
by the U.S. Department of the Interior shows.
An ongoing assessment by the FAA will guide decisions about where to
locate roads and how to best minimize the impact of the spaceport on
boating, fishing and other recreation.
"Some areas may be off-limits for six to 15 hours per launch," Space
Florida wrote in a statement posted on its website.
"We anticipate people will still be able to fish much of the lagoon
and watch from the beach during a launch, but the (environmental
impact statement) will make that determination," Space Florida said.
(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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