On top of that, rockets would be fired over private houses and a visitor-active unit of the national park administration. With around 60,000 visitors per year at the Cumberland Island National Seashore, the park service and thus also the US Department of the Interior have reservations about the plan. A July 2021 letter, signed by Laura Fleming of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, said an FAA safety briefing on the spaceport “provided insufficient information for our needs.” The letter continued, “As the federal lands administrator tasked with protecting some of the nation’s most well-protected resources, [the National Park Service] has the responsibility to plan and prepare for a worst-case scenario.”
“It is evident that the FAA has prioritized its mandate to promote space commerce over its commitment to the environment and public safety,” Howell-Edwards said. “Allowing a private spaceport to launch rockets over Cumberland Island Wilderness sets a dangerous precedent for all federal protected areas.”
“Virtually from the beginning, the FAA’s review of Spaceport Camden was riddled with errors of fact and errors of law,” adds Brian Gist, senior counsel for the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We will carefully review the FAA’s decision to ensure it fully complies with all applicable laws.”
The now-approved Spaceport Camden proposal has undergone significant revisions, which Gist says were carried out without corresponding significant revisions to the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). For example, Camden County changed its application to focus on small missiles versus medium and large missiles. Small rockets fail more often than larger ones, presenting a different type of risk than what is captured in the existing EIS.
Still, some, like Steve Howard, Spaceport Camden Project Manager and a member of the Camden County Board of Commissioners, are excited about the approval. “In the twentieth century, Camden County was proclaimed the ‘Gateway to Space,'” he said in a statement following the decision. “With this license, we have maintained that title into the 21st century.” He continues, “This unique opportunity will represent a new frontier of economic prosperity for Camden, the region and the state of Georgia.” Howard believes Georgia is one of the will become the leader of the space race.
The project is also intended to create local jobs. Construction, which is expected to take a year and a half, would create an estimated 70 temporary jobs, with around 80 full-time positions being created once the facility is operational.
This is not the first environmental conflict in the region. Logging, open pit mining and resort building have all been considered on Cumberland Island in the past. NASA even looked for a launch center on the east coast of the island. Instead, Cape Canaveral was chosen. The National Park Service acquired most of the island previously owned by the Carnegie family in 1972 and established the Cumberland National Seashore. The rest of the island is owned by the famous Coca-Cola Candler family, some Carnegie descendants, and other private individuals.
But so far the area has eluded large-scale development. Environmentalists are hoping for a repeat.
