This post contains links to the letter and enclosures we sent yesterday to FAA Associate Administrator General Wayne Monteith. On Tuesday, the Facebook page Taxpayers Against Camden Spaceport explained, "The FAA ANNOUNCED TODAY that the 414-page dEIS document that we all paid millions for over the course of 3 years now has to be redone (at our expense). We have paid the main dEIS consultant, Leidos,
over $1,800,000 with Andrew Nelson sucking more of our money [ed. over a million dollars] while he oversaw their progress. Many of our other consultants chimed in on the document at the cost of hundreds of thousands. The Spaceport Camden team has been bumbling their way down this expensive rabbit hole for over 6 years. We’ve gone from being told the fancy space companies were lining up to launch here to now facing the fact that our Commissioners will waste millions more to revise the dEIS for imaginary small launches. All while Steve Howard dreams a truck and trailer might show up at Harrietts Bluff with a mini-rocket."
Our letter to General Monteith reminds the FAA that fundamental parts of the DEIS persist as problematic and essentially unsolvable. The problem areas that remain, even after we've spent millions, represent pathways to litigation that will surely cost Camden taxpayers hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to defend.
Those who have followed this blog know that we scrupulously search for and report hard facts in our posts. We are hindered by Camden County's persistent secrecy and reliance on misleading claims in their undocumented press releases. After five such years, we've grown weary of 'expert' information that turns out false. Similarly, the FAA, being a Federal agency, claims they are understaffed and cannot provide timely responses to clarifying 2017, 2018, and 2019 Freedom of Information Requests after being awarded budget and staffing increases.
Despite those constraints, you will find that our letter to General Monteith and the official documents linked below raise grave questions about the accuracy of what we're told about the status of Spaceport Camden by spaceport promoters and Camden's paid PR. Those sources should always be reliable, but have proven not to be. As our letter to General Monteith says, the FAA owes the citizens of Camden complete, specific answers.
