FAA okays increase in SpaceX launches from Vandenberg from 36 to 50 per year
The FAA today approved an environmental reassessment at Vandenberg Space Force Base that permits SpaceX to increase its annual launches there from 36 to 50.
The reassessment determined (not surprisingly) that there was “no significant impact” on the environment caused by the increased number of launches.
We already have more than seven decades of empirical data at spaceports in both Florida and California that rocket launches do no harm to the environment, and in fact act to significantly protect wildlife and natural resources because they require the creation of large regions where no development can take place.
The real question should be this: Why is the federal government wasting taxpayer money on these reports? They are utterly unnecessary, and only serve to hinder the freedom of Americans while spending their taxes on make work that accomplishes nothing.
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The FAA today approved an environmental reassessment at Vandenberg Space Force Base that permits SpaceX to increase its annual launches there from 36 to 50.
The reassessment determined (not surprisingly) that there was “no significant impact” on the environment caused by the increased number of launches.
We already have more than seven decades of empirical data at spaceports in both Florida and California that rocket launches do no harm to the environment, and in fact act to significantly protect wildlife and natural resources because they require the creation of large regions where no development can take place.
The real question should be this: Why is the federal government wasting taxpayer money on these reports? They are utterly unnecessary, and only serve to hinder the freedom of Americans while spending their taxes on make work that accomplishes nothing.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
”Why is the federal government wasting taxpayer money on these reports?”
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1970.
mkent: Except until the Biden administration you never heard of the FAA or any other agency doing environmental reassessments every time a private company wishes to revise its operations. Now these reassessments seem required for almost any reason, sometimes quite trivial. And the proof that the reasons are trivial is how often the reassessments conclude that no impact for the change has been found.
”Except until the Biden administration you never heard of the FAA or any other agency doing environmental reassessments every time a private company wishes to revise its operations.”
Until just before the Biden administration private companies didn’t launch more than 12-15 times a year from all sites combined, well below the ~50-launch per year peak of American launches during the Cold War which formed the basis of previous environmental assessments. Now SpaceX alone wants to equal that national peak from just its secondary launch site at Vandenberg. From an environmental standpoint, it’s a different kettle of fish.
”…the reassessments conclude that no impact for the change has been found.”
Which is what will stave off most lawsuits from environmentalists and the California Coastal Commission.
Personally, I think NEPA should be reworked. But it’s been the law of the land for over 50 years and remains so. As long as it is, studies like this are less expensive and less restrictive than the lawsuits that inevitably result from not doing them.
The California Coastal Commission has petitioned for a Day of Mourning, ‘for the planet’.
This and the closing of the border are Trumps two best moves.