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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
”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.