You want to launch east to get a boost from earth's rotation, and as close to the equator as possible. Even ignoring that, the great lakes are not big enough fo

You want to launch east to get a boost from earth's rotation, and as close to the equator as possible. Even ignoring that, the great lakes are not big enough for sufficient safety area (if that sounds preposterous, consider that Cuba, that is a thousand miles away from their launch site, actually limits available inclinations from Boca Chica), and there are no deserts in the Americas that don't have cities between them and the east coast. I get that people want to work the political angle here, but Boca Chica was definitely the best remaining place to launch rockets from continental US, no arguments from regulatory environment needed.