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Is it inevitable that Elon moves starship ops to Florida? It's pretty clear the Brownsville community is completely against them. The reason Cape Canaveral work

Is it inevitable that Elon moves starship ops to Florida? It's pretty clear the Brownsville community is completely against them. The reason Cape Canaveral worked is because it was hundreds of square miles of uninhabited swamp in the 60s.

mohaine 4y ago
This is federal law and could really be from any concerned citizen. It could be locals but is just as likely to be groups that have never even been to south Texas.
- jcranmer 4y ago
  The actual lawsuit is here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.254763/gov.uscourts.dcd.254763.1.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.254... (grr, journalists who don't link to court documents). The plaintiffs are: * Center for Biological Diversity (nationwide nonprofit) * American Bird Conservancy (nationwide nonprofit) * Surfrider Nonprofit (nationwide nonprofit, has a chapter based on the barrier island in the area) * Save RGV (nonprofit apparently focusing on the Rio Grande) * Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas (representing indigenous groups in the immediate vicinity) So, there's at least a few groups in there who are actively based in the local area.
gorkish 4y ago
It's not inevitable in the slightest. Making big changes and receiving approvals to build everything in Canaveral would be brought with the same challenges; maybe even more since the risk to adjacent infrastructure in Canaveral is unquestionably much higher. Lawsuits to interfere with operations are de rigueur for most any government contractor today, even those who aren't blasting things into space.
hughes 4y ago
Why do you say the Brownsville community is completely against them? They're the largest employer in the city, and the mayor expressed support for their presence just last week[1]. So completely against them, except for the municipal government, local businesses, and the thousands of employees? [1] https://www.krgv.com/news/spacex-brownsville-experiencing-increase-in-business-thanks-to-spacex-activity/ https://www.krgv.com/news/spacex-brownsville-experiencing-in...
- paulddraper 4y ago
  Maybe there was a critical Tweet from a Brownsville resident.
krasin 4y ago
> It's pretty clear the Brownsville community is completely against them I visited the area a couple of years ago. Locals were mildly positive towards SpaceX.
tbyehl 4y ago
Emphasis on _was_. Florida doesn't have any coastal areas left that are less problematic than Brownsville in terms of population, wildlife management areas, and other protected lands.
bryanlarsen 4y ago
All of the dozen or so locals I talked to at Brownsville / San Padre Island were supportive of SpaceX moving in.
bottlepalm 4y ago
They're just making sure all precautions and mitigations that can be taken, are taken. In reality none of this is blocking progress. SpaceX has much bigger and harder problems to solve.

mohaine 4y ago

This is federal law and could really be from any concerned citizen. It could be locals but is just as likely to be groups that have never even been to south Texas.

jcranmer 4y ago
The actual lawsuit is here: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.254763/gov.uscourts.dcd.254763.1.0_1.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.254... (grr, journalists who don't link to court documents). The plaintiffs are: * Center for Biological Diversity (nationwide nonprofit) * American Bird Conservancy (nationwide nonprofit) * Surfrider Nonprofit (nationwide nonprofit, has a chapter based on the barrier island in the area) * Save RGV (nonprofit apparently focusing on the Rio Grande) * Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas (representing indigenous groups in the immediate vicinity) So, there's at least a few groups in there who are actively based in the local area.

gorkish 4y ago

It's not inevitable in the slightest. Making big changes and receiving approvals to build everything in Canaveral would be brought with the same challenges; maybe even more since the risk to adjacent infrastructure in Canaveral is unquestionably much higher. Lawsuits to interfere with operations are de rigueur for most any government contractor today, even those who aren't blasting things into space.

hughes 4y ago

Why do you say the Brownsville community is completely against them? They're the largest employer in the city, and the mayor expressed support for their presence just last week[1]. So completely against them, except for the municipal government, local businesses, and the thousands of employees? [1] https://www.krgv.com/news/spacex-brownsville-experiencing-increase-in-business-thanks-to-spacex-activity/ https://www.krgv.com/news/spacex-brownsville-experiencing-in...

paulddraper 4y ago
Maybe there was a critical Tweet from a Brownsville resident.

krasin 4y ago

> It's pretty clear the Brownsville community is completely against them I visited the area a couple of years ago. Locals were mildly positive towards SpaceX.

tbyehl 4y ago

Emphasis on _was_. Florida doesn't have any coastal areas left that are less problematic than Brownsville in terms of population, wildlife management areas, and other protected lands.

bryanlarsen 4y ago

All of the dozen or so locals I talked to at Brownsville / San Padre Island were supportive of SpaceX moving in.

bottlepalm 4y ago

They're just making sure all precautions and mitigations that can be taken, are taken. In reality none of this is blocking progress. SpaceX has much bigger and harder problems to solve.