Schrodinger’s Spaceport: Is Camden County’s Controversial Project Dead or Alive?
Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) says there is no longer a deal to sell 4,000 acres to Georgia’s Camden County for a spaceport after voters overwhelming rejected the project. But, the county disagrees. The Associated Press reports:
“As a result, there is no longer an Option Agreement in existence between the County and UCC, and UCC does not intend to convey the property to the County pursuant to the prior Option Agreement,” said the statement, emailed to The Associated Press by Union Carbide spokesman Tomm Sprick.
Steve Howard, Camden County’s government administrator, provided a statement from the county’s lawyers insisting the deal isn’t over.
“Union Carbide most certainly has a contract with Camden,” the statement said. “The County has indicated that it is ready, willing and able to close. We expect Union Carbide to honor its contractual commitments.”
Camden County received permission from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last December to launch small satellite from the planned spaceport site. Opponents, who are concerned about safety and skeptical about the projected economic benefits, gathered enough signatures to force a referendum on the project. Seventy-two percent of votes cast were opposed to the project.
County officials ignored the vote and continued to pursue the project. The county is attempting to have the referendum declared invalid by the Georgia Supreme Court. A hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 23.
7 responses to “Schrodinger’s Spaceport: Is Camden County’s Controversial Project Dead or Alive?”
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So now, Spaceport Camden County will pay lawyers to fight one of the world’s largest, and richest, corporations whose experienced legal department was certainly sure of its legal position before issuing a statement.
Camden County missed its opportunity to close on the property long before losing the March 8 Special Election by a landslide, but for some undisclosed reason, they didn’t, or couldn’t, close.
The FAA contributed to the mess by not following NEPA law, its own Order 1050.1F regulations, and its Congressional mandate to protect the public (and public property). The FAA should have
realized Spaceport Camden was a bad idea from the start. Launch rockets over US citizens’ bedrooms just 5 miles downrange? A non-starter. Launch rockets over a visitor-active National Park unit? A non-starter. License a spaceport for nothing bigger than a Vector-R on a single approved trajectory? FAA: tell us how that serves the national interest? That’s why the FAA is the defendant in a Federal lawsuit in a DC District Court that seeks to revoke Camden’s worthless site license.
After 7 years and $11 million spent, the failure to perform is solely on Camden County leadership. They knew they had to close but have no money in the budget to do so, or to build a spaceport! Camden leadership ran out its own clock, and now seeks to blame others. Will any other company want to contract with Camden County government?
Famous Apollo 13 astronaut Tom Hanks once said, “Stupid is as Stupid does!” Yep.
I say Estes should get the place as a museum 😉
What did Eates do to piss you off?
Nothing….the site would be perfect…a nice museum
A referendum cooked up in a lawyer’s bathtub. From 1950 to 1999 there were 3,182 rockets launched from Cape Canaveral – which breaks down to 64 launches a year. Excuse me while I barricade myself in a panic room. They wonder why this country is in dire straits, well look no further than your own reflection or the Prius in your garage.
There are no perfect locations for any public works project, and anybody can nail their list of bullet points to the church door. I do hope you continue to gloat about costing the county taxpayers their investment of millions.
The referendum is precisely described in the Georgia Constitution as the means for citizens to control their wayward government. No lawyer was needed.
No rocket from Kennedy/Canaveral has ever launched over private homes just 5 miles downrange. The homes and the National Seashore long preceded the spaceport plans. That isn’t done anywhere except in China. You seem to not be aware of the missile graveyard that lies just offshore from KSC/Canaveral, about the same distance as our neighbors live downrange from Spaceport Camden’s planned launch pad. The Harvard Crimson: “Jim Mizell, a spokesman for the Kennedy Space Center, called the area offshore “the missile graveyard of the world” because it contains the wreckage of scores of failed rockets and the discarded first stages of hundreds more.”
Besides not having a clue about who the spaceport opponents are or their beliefs (I drive a 2010 V-8 F-150), you have the obvious problem of guilt projection. Spaceport Camden is not a public works project; it serves only private interests. The National Seashore IS a public works project – it serves everyone’s national interests. NO rockets from Kennedy/Canaveral are allowed to launch over Canaveral National Seashore. Shiloh Spaceport was canceled because its trajectories would always be over that National Seashore and Merritt Island Wildlife Management Area. Cumberland Island includes Designated Wilderness which has even higher levels of Congressionally-MANDATED protection. Camden County already hosts Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, and we’re proud supporters of the men and women of our nuclear deterrent force. Our residents include missile builders, weapons experts, nuclear power technicians, and everyone else it takes to train and operate our Atlantic nuclear fleet. I excitedly watched a boomer and crew arrive home from its mission yesterday. Opponents of Spaceport Camden may include tree-huggers. But all opponents are clear about not wanting to finance a bad project (no financial support from the space industry or State or Feds) that’s in the wrong place and threatens irreplaceable assets, including our neighbors’ lives.
I do agree with you that this country is in dire straits, but it is because of leadership that doesn’t have a clue and is self-serving. That’s exactly what is going on with Spaceport Camden.
It ain’t over ’til it’s over.