[Starlink] Planetary Society podcast on SpaceX & EPA issues

[Dave Taht]

On Fri, May 12, 2023 at 4:18 PM Darrell Budic <budic at onholyground.com> wrote:
>
> The TLDR; is probably:

Thank you.

>
> - site originally used a sort of short form Environmental Impact Statement to certify for occasional falcon 9 launches, not exploding starship testing
> - updates have been made to allow for the testing, and this is where the recent lawsuits are centered
> - crazy things have been floated for the site (LNG shipping terminal, 250MW power plant) that would have required new evals

I do not think these things are crazy. This location has many
advantages, being both close by to an airport and a major commercial
harbor and shipyard
( https://www.portofbrownsville.com/ ), which is also a source of
competent labor and other manufacturing. There are few locations I can
think of as good as this for rocket development left in the USA.

The ecological damage even of a full load explosion on the ground is
trivial compared to the damage already done by development elsewhere.

It IS too close to cities, being about 6? miles from san padre and 3
from mexico, IMHO. A 40 second delay in the ATS system, coupled with a
full throttle and out of control rocket headed straight in those
directions would be bad. Aside from that water surrounds about half
the area.

> - lots of this is probably traceable to Musk’s lack of local PR and just trying to crash forward and the recent train derailments in the news raising awareness

In the bars I visited, and the hotel I stayed at, approval of spacex
was roughly 100%, with a sense of pride and accomplishment and
knowledge in the waiters and waitresses I engaged with. I realize that
is not a scientific sample.  There were no protestors on the beach,
no-one with signs out saying stop this thing, either. I do not think
there is much lack of local PR. Also tens of thousands of space
tourists feeding the local economy made for some of the best live
music I have encountered in decades. There was a level of energy and
enthusiasm in this booming town that I have not seen in America in a
long, long time.

> - SpaceX seems to be realizing this site may not be what they need and may to be looking at doing more at Kennedy Space Center in the future

Certainly kennedy is more conventional but even more cramped.

> - if the lawsuit against the EPA stays in Washington DC, it may be trouble for SpaceX, if it moves to Texas at the EPAs request, it’s more likely to mean little overall

I agree that texas puts a much higher priority on economic development
than some.

>
> But you miss a lot of somewhat interesting policy and background on the Environmental angle, which turns out to be more involved than I’d have thought from a distance.

I will listen, but I suffered through the "snail darter" days a lot
back in the day. Environmental damage in this location is easily
offset elsewhere.

>
> Also nice that the Planetary Society posts a full transcript if you’d rather read/skim than listen.
>
> > On May 12, 2023, at 4:53 PM, Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > could you summarize?
> >
> > On Fri, May 12, 2023 at 8:48 AM Darrell Budic via Starlink
> > <starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
> >>
> >> Some intersting coverage on the route SpaceX took with their Boca Chica site and environmental issues here:
> >>
> >> https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/space-policy-edition-spacexs-starship-vs-the-environment-with-eric-roesch
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Starlink mailing list
> >> Starlink at lists.bufferbloat.net
> >> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058793910227111937/
> > Dave Täht CSO, LibreQos
>


-- 
Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058793910227111937/
Dave Täht CSO, LibreQos