Will Maine's Town of Steuben Say No To Rocket Launches?

Readers of this blog may recall my reporting on efforts in Maine to block the construction of a rocket launch site in Steuben, visible from Acadia National Park. The fishing community of Jonesport had already blocked Blushift Aerospace of Brunswick from constructing a launch site there in 2022. In a letter to the editor entitled "Rocket entrepreneur didn't fulfill promises to Jonesport," resident Carrie Peabody explained:

Consensus proved 80 to 97% against rockets via multiple municipal processes, including straw vote, petitions, surveys, a moratorium and town vote. The actions backed the establishment of an ordinance to restrict launches.

Jonesport consistently relayed their decision to Deri, underscoring his refusal to fulfill his promise [to respect the consensus]..

Jonesporters.. want industry that enhances their fishing heritage and Down East culture. Rocket launches posed a threat to their livelihood, quality of life, environment, natural resources, tourism and town infrastructure.

A flurry of corporate media puffery ensued where readers were told that the lucky little town of Steuben had been selected as the new site. Local residents began to challenge the town council on their lack of democratic process in making this decision. Some of us organized talks at the Common Ground Fair that year to support them and created an informational website called Notoxicrockets4ME.

At the Common Ground Fair, Blushift CEO Sascha Deri showed up to disrupt our presentation and said we were lying. I'm embedding the video of this, and you can also see it on YouTube here.

Now comes March, the time of year when towns in Maine conduct local elections and hold an annual meeting of interested voters. In Steuben there is a citizen-initiated referendum to ban rocket launches on the ballot.

The Bangor Daily News reported on Hanson's effort:

Larch Hanson, a local resident who owns and operates a local seaweed company, spearheaded the citizen’s petition to get the proposed rocket ordinance on the ballot. He said that other rocket companies also are interested in Maine, and that the issue is bigger than just whether bluShift might expand to Steuben. In a written statement, Hanson said that rocket manufacturing, and possibly retrieving spent rockets from the ocean, is dangerous work. He cited the accidental discharge last summer of toxic fire-retardant foam at Brunswick Landing, where bluShift is headquartered, as something he would fear if rocket manufacturing came to Steuben. The head of bluShift “and those other CEO’s of rocket launching companies who will come tumbling out of the Trojan Horse, once it’s been wheeled through the gates of our community, will never be held accountable for the damage they do to our air, waters, soils, and health,” Hanson said.

Rocket launch sites are often built on the promise that no military use is intended. But Deri has already taken funds from the U.S. Space Force. They are often built on the promise that any pollution or disruption to wildlife will be minimal. But that is a huge lie as demonstrated at many locations where launch failures strew debris for miles and cause fires that burn several acres of wildlife habitat. This recent documentary on Space X in Brownsville, Texas does a good job of showing the reality of living near a rocket launch facility.

PFAS foam tumbled by the breeze following spill at Brunswick Landing

One of the safety issues with rocket launch sites is the need for industrial level fire suppression systems. Coincidentally, Blushift headquarters is located at Brunswick Executive Airport which is the site of the biggest PFAS spill ever. Caused by a malfunction of the fire suppression system that dumped thousands of gallons of forever-chemicals foam onto local land and waterways, this mishap will be impacting fisheries and human health for generations to come. 

PFAS researcher Pat Elder explained:

Clean-up is not possible. Think of the subsurface soils in the region as a massive subterranean sponge full of carcinogens that perpetually squeeze out into groundwater and surface water forever. 

How can we support Steuben in resisting this corporate rocket takeover? Share this information widely. Talk to your friends to see if they know any voters in town. Ask anyone that lives near Acadia, is this what you want for the Maine coast?

No Rocket Launch Site Off Acadia National Park

Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Island in Maine is a gorgeous spot stolen from Wabanaki people who considered what white people now call Cadillac Mountain a sacred place. I've watched the sun come up from the shoreline near a campground at Acadia, a good reminder of why Native people called their home the Dawnland. 

Acadia's view of the Atlantic could include a rocket launch site someday soon if profiteers sniffing around nearby Steuben get their way. We've been organizing opposition to that and yesterday some board members of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space attended the Maine Space Conference in Portland. Two of us paid to go inside while a dozen of us met outside at the lunch break to picket the hotel venue, our presence meriting one sentence at the end of a puff piece by local tv a reporter. 

That puff piece studiously avoided the word "military" as did most of the presentations we saw inside. But we're paying attention to the promises made when the Maine Space Corporation legislation was rushed through under the gavel amid assurances to legislators that any launch site would be strictly for civilian uses like education and research. That is complete bullshit if the experiences of other launch sites like Kodiak, Alaska are any indication: promised no military use, they now play a key role in Israel's genocide in Gaza as the Israeli military uses the Kodiak facility frequently to launch communications satellites.

bluShift Aerospace is pushing for the rocket launch site and its CEO told us in September that he expects to accept funding from both NASA (its official at the conference was referred to as the Maine space industry's "sugar daddy" which seemed to delight him) and the U.S. Space Force. One of the breakout sessions I attended on Composites also had an orientation toward military applications and this was mentioned as a point of pride.

Meanwhile, everyone I spoke to at a rally for Gaza last weekend in Portland was astonished that there are plans to build a rocket launch site anywhere in Maine much less off the coast near Acadia.

To raise awareness our print ad is running this week in two newspapers in Bar Harbor near Acadia, and our radio ad is airing in that market as well.

Do You Believe Environmentalists Or The CEO Looking To Make Millions?

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On September 24, Bruce Gagnon and I gave a talk at Maine's big Common Ground Fair on the proposal to build a rocket launch site off the coast of Maine at Steuben. Bruce coordinates an international organization paying attention to the militarization of space for the last several decades, the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space,  and understands the context for the proposal to build a rocket launch site near Acadia National Park.

Although our 9am talk was sparsely attended we got none other than Sascha Deri himself, CEO of bluShift Aerospace, who interrupted me to claim that I was sharing false information. Having taught high school for years, I did not allow Deri to derail my presentation; but he and others in the audience participated in a lively Q & A session after my remarks. (Video of the entire presentation including the disruption is being processed and will be available later this week.)

Deri's most amazing revelation in response to Gagnon's question about his funding sources: bluShift Aerospace has taken money from the U.S. Space Force! Remember that the next time you see or hear claims that a rocket launch site in Maine would only be used for research and educational purposes, not for military payloads.

Banner by Cynthia Howard

We hung our banners on the outside of the Social & Political Action tents at the invitation of a fair official, and then did some more outreach work with organizations like Dark Sky, WERU, and Community Water Justice.

Original banner design by Elizabeth Olbert

The following day Donovan Lynch of NewsCenterMaine called me for an interview about opposition to the plan to launch 30+ rockets each summer off the coast of Steuben, rockets that are as tall as a mature White Pine. He also interviewed Deri and Steuben-based seaweed harvester Larch Hanson about environmental concerns: "Downeast rocket launch site promises industry boom, worrying environmentalists."

Screenshot showing Kenny Cole's climate collapse-themed print "Last Run" in the background

Included in his report was the news that bluShift is seeking FAA approval, and a prediction that two years from now rocket launches might commence.

Who are you inclined to believe about probable environmental harms of the launch site project: the CEO looking to make millions, environmentalists who live in Maine, or Gagnon with extensive knowledge of the effects of rocket launch sites all over the planet? 

You can read Bruce Gagnon's blog post about our talk at the fair here.

For more information and to sign up for updates, visit our website NoToxicRockets4ME.org.

*To order one of the cool "Don't take the peace out of space" hoodies we're wearing in the photo at the top, visit: Global Network's store at Bonfire.com. Kudos to the British GN team for this awesome design!