January 14, 2021
Ms. Kelie Moore
Federal Consistency Coordinator
Georgia Department of Natural Resources
Coastal Resources Division
One Conservation Way Suite 300
Brunswick, GA 31520-8687
RE: Proposed Coastal Consistency Determination for Spaceport Camden
Dear Ms. Moore:
On behalf of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, Georgia Audubon, the Georgia Conservancy, the National Park Conservation Association, One Hundred Miles, and Wild Cumberland, I am writing to request that the Coastal Resources Division extend the comment deadline for an additional sixty days and conduct a virtual public meeting regarding the proposed Coastal Consistency Determination for Spaceport Camden. Thank you for your attention to this important matter and for the CRD’s efforts to engage the public on this decision.
CRD’s public notice links to well over a thousand of pages of highly technical
information related to Spaceport Camden. One these documents, the license application, has not previously been released to the public. Another, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, evaluates a prior proposal and is now partially obsolete. A third, the draft Coastal Consistency Certification, contains significant factual misstatements and omissions.
Presented with this large and confusing release of information, it will be extremely
difficult for the public to provide meaningful feedback on this project in the thirty day comment period. Further, without the opportunity to ask questions at a public meeting, it is unrealistic to assume that the public will understand this highly technical information and can distinguish between the old elements of this proposal and the new elements.
Although CRD has a statutory timeline for providing its response, the FAA’s
mismanagement of this process should not constrain the ability of CRD – or Georgia’s citizens – to participate in this process. The Coastal Zone Management Act affords the State of Georgia the ability to protect its interests through this process and it should fully exercise those rights. Further, the statutory timeframe does not prevent FAA and Camden County staff from conducting a public meeting to engage with the public and provide an appropriate, and long overdue, explanation of this proposal.
Thank you for your work on this project and for CRD’s efforts to protect Georgia’s coast. Please contact me with any questions or concerns at (404) 521-9900 or bg***@se****.org.
Sincerely,
Brian L. Gist
cc: Mr. Doug Haymans