Blueshift Aerospace 0-2 On Rocket Launch Site Attempts In Maine

Signage displayed near the polls for eight hours on March 11.

A victory for the people of coastal Maine this week as the town of Steuben voted nearly 2 to 1 to ban commercial rocket launches from its beautiful coast. It was the second town to refuse Blueshift's proposal to build an offshore rocket launch site, the first being nearby Jonesport.

The ordinance went into effect immediately and also bans any rocket building, any use by the Maine Space Corporation, and any use by the U.S. Space Force. It also prohibits "retrieval of launch vehicles or payloads within the boundaries of the town."

It prohibits a whole lot more, too, and you can read the ordinance as passed here on the town's website.

Almost seems like someone who knew what they were doing created such a comprehensive ban. That person would be seaweed harvester Larch Hanson who has shared the content of two mass mailings he sent prior to the March 11 referendum. He is also ready and willing to support other towns that may need to defend their coastal waters from for-profit rocket companies in the future.  "Happy to consult with the next town, and refine the message and the process," says Hanson who can be reached at hanson.larch@gmail.com.

Steuben is outlined in red on this map.

Here's text from the mailer sent one month before the referendum:

Dear Neighbors in Steuben, please mark your calendars for two important dates:

1. On Saturday, February 15th, at 1 p.m., there will be an informational meeting about the

proposed Commercial Rocket Launch Ordinance at the Steuben Volunteer Fire Department.

Please share what you know! Many of you have spoken to me in favor of the proposed ordinance.

Some of you have direct life experience with managing and monitoring the handling of explosives at the

federal level, and you’ve shared reports with me that are eye-opening. Some of you have been directly

harmed by the chemicals in flame retardant foams used to fight intense fires. You’ve made me aware of

how hazardous working in the secretive culture of rocketry and the military can be. Please tell your story.

Some of you are hospital workers and EMT’s who recognize the fact that our current health system is

broken, and that we could not adequately respond to poisonings and catastrophic accidents related to

rocket production and launchings, especially given the fact that rocket companies are secretive,

refusing to publicly list all the chemicals and possible hazards involved in their processes. (In

Aroostook County, VALT has concealed the location of their rocket launches to such an extent that even

the sheriff doesn’t know when and where they occur.)

Some of you have worked in aerospace and are bound by nondisclosure agreements. You’ve told me

privately, “I know too much,” and that you would like to share more, but you’re afraid of retribution.

Some of you are aware that bluShiftAerospace will require firefighters to sign nondisclosure agreements.

The company is just a place holder; once established, many more companies will follow, and these

companies won’t even bother pretending to be “green”. (“Biofuel” is just a word used to distract people.)

Many of you are fishermen who understand that marine life is sensitive to chemical pollution and strong

vibrations, and you don’t want to lose your livelihoods. You understand, as I do, that “the greenest

business is the one with the shortest hauling path”. The marketing emphasis here is on LOCALLY

SOURCED CLEAN SEAFOOD. Compare: It’s a long hauling path to Mars, and Mars has vast perchlorate

deserts that are toxic to human life. In 2016, Maine’s CDC set a limit of 0.8 parts per billion for

perchlorate in drinking water. That’s how toxic it is! Perchlorate blocks transport of iodine to the thyroid

which makes regulatory hormones centered on the stable element of iodine. Marine life will

concentrate perchlorate and introduce it into the food web. Perchlorate, a forever chemical, is

associated with the manufacture and use of rocket fuels, munitions, fireworks, and air bag inflators. The

feds refuse to regulate perchlorate; they are the biggest contributors to this problem which robs us all of

our ability to self-regulate, develop strong immune systems, and raise normal healthy smart children.

Some of you have sent me articles describing the failures of federal regulatory agencies to do what they

were created to do. For instance, the E.P.A. and F.A.A. have failed to regulate forever chemicals, and as

a result we are losing more and more soil and water resources. I grew up in southwest Minnesota where

farmers polluted their surface wells with herbicides and pesticides, so the state drilled deep wells and

piped water to all the farms. This is a stopgap solution. The farmers are still spraying toxic herbicides

and pesticides, and it’s just a matter of time before these chemicals reach the deep water table.

In the late 1960’s, I lived in northern Florida where spring fed rivers lush with eel grass attracted

manatees, but now, due to pollution, the eel grass is gone and the manatees are starving to death. For a

while, I lived in Sarasota and swam in the Gulf of Mexico. Due to a leaking oil rig disaster, that body of

water no longer supports fishermen. On the east coast, the estuaries adjacent to Cape Canaveral are

polluted with forever chemicals related to rockets, and one has to travel north to St. Augustine before

one can find locally caught fresh seafood. Don’t let this happen to the downeast coast of Maine!

2. Tuesday, March 11th, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. is the day when we all can vote to pass the

ordinance, and if you can’t be here, you can get an absentee ballot at the town office.

Rest in the Light, abide in the Heart. Larch Hanson

Just before the vote this mailer was sent to registered voters in Steuben:

Once our water is polluted by forever chemicals, there’s no getting it back.

Dear Neighbors,

On Tuesday, March 11th, the polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and

please vote YES to enact an ordinance that bans conventional rocket

launchings in Steuben. Absentee ballots are also available.

Sascha Deri, CEO of bluShift Aerospace and a board member of Maine

Space Corporation, has written in his very own brochure that Maine Space

Corporation’s overall plan could attract “out-of-state competitors using

toxic propellants”. In Aroostook County, as reported by Melissa Lizotte in

the Bangor Daily News, September 11th, 2024, VALT rocket launching

company is secretly launching rockets over Aroostook County……so

secretly, in fact, that not even the sheriff was notified of the location of the

launchings. There’s been no environmental impact study, no community

vote, before proceeding to application for a license to the Federal

Aviation Agency - a process that was promised in Maine Space Complex’s

“Draft Strategic Plan Report” dated 2/11/2022. Welcome to the Wild West!

Mr. Deri and his workers are at risk of exposure to toxic “forever

chemicals” known as PFAS after a malfunction unleashed a staggering

51,540 gallons of firefighting foam in one of the hangars at Brunswick

Landing, home of bluShift Aerospace. It’s the largest accidental spill of

such foam in the state’s history, and the sixth-largest in the U.S. in the past

30 years. See https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/08/

massive-brunswick-pfas-spill-maines-largest-ever-firefighting-foam

And guess what? Mr. Deri has signed a contract to launch human and pet

cremains into space. What does this have to do with science? Couldn’t

he find anything better to do with a rocket? It’s wasteful. https://

www.mainebiz.biz/article/in-7m-deal-blushift-signs-shackleton-

descendant-for-unconventional-launches This is not a path with heart.

There’s a video that sums it all up, including interviews with residents of

Brownsville, Texas, about the progressive degradation of the environment

as a result of Elon Musk’s Space X takeover of the town, and since he’s

working with Trump to eliminate regulation, this is a preview of what will

come to Steuben if we don’t assert our right of home rule per Maine state

law. Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cZEZoa8rW0

Rest in the Light, abide in the Heart. Larch hanson.larch@gmail.com

For more information on local resistance to toxic rocket launch sites all over the planet check out my website NoToxicRockets4ME.org.

No Toxic Rocket Launches For Maine

Today, March 11, voters in tiny Steuben, Maine will go to the polls to determine whether or not to ban rocket launch facilities and construction of rockets in their town. 

If the referendum fails maybe the Gulf of Maine will be renamed Gulf of Blushift Aerospace Debris?

Launches off the coast of Steuben would be visible and probably audible from Acadia National Park and from iconic wealthy enclave Bar Harbor. Probably Jonesport, too, where townspeople already said "no" to a rocket launch site.

The referendum effort in Steuben was organized by Larch Hansen of Maine Seaweed who rejects claims that rocket launches would not disturb the ecosystem of his sustainable harvest. Last month I posted about his efforts and those of us elsewhere in the state who don't want Maine turned into a junkyard for private rocket profiteers.

You can also find more information on the Steuben and Jonesport resistance here at the website NoToxicRockets4ME.

The website includes a compilation of the experiences of other localities like Texas, Alaska, and New Zealand who allowed rocket launch sites to be built on their coastlines. Flora and fauna suffer even when launches go as planned -- and they very often do not go as planned. Just ask the elongated muskrat how his many largely unregulated SpaceX launches have failed and how that affected others around them.

Promises are often made that launch sites will never be used for military purposes. Residents of Kodiak heard such claims when they were being lobbied for permission to build; now, the site is routinely used by the Israeli military. A Maine aerospace CEO told us at the 2023 Common Ground Fair that the U.S. Space Force wants to fill up low Earth orbit before China and Russia can get there. So Maine appears to be heading into the dangerous and destabilizing rush to militarize space.

I'm wishing the best of luck to Steuben today. Hopefully they have noted the experiences of nearby Jonesport and will vote in their own best interests.

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?

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

*

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!