Houston Regional Group - News

On February 27, 2007, the Brazoria County Commissioners Court voted, 4-1 to dissolve the Gulf Coast Regional Spaceport Development Corporation (GCRSDC). Commissioners Court stated that they were frustrated that little progress was made toward development of the GCRSDC even though $ 1million in planning grants were provided by the State of Texas. Another spaceport site in West Texas, Pecos County, has had much more success and has launched practice space vehicles.

The GCRSDC had proposed the construction of a regional spaceport that would have impacted the Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR) which is only 0.7 miles away. The GCRSDC proposed a consolidated administration engineering and flight operations facility, upper stage manufacturing and maintenance facility, aero-spacecraft assembly and payload integration facility, runway, propellant loading area, tank farm, cryogenic propellant supply line, aero-spacecraft run-up area, and ejector ramjet run-up area.

Possible impacts that could have resulted from the construction and operation of the GCRSDC included excessive noise which would harass bird-life; release of toxic air pollution and vapors; taking of refuge airspace used by birds, bats, and other wildlife; water contamination due to propellant releases, spills, accidents, and soil erosion; reduced public refuge use due to blocking off the public road that lead to the refuge during launches; the incompatibility of the launch site with refuge purposes; safety problems including explosions, accidents, fires, debris scatter, and the aborting of rockets after launches.

BNWR is one of the most diverse and important refuges on the Texas Coast and in the United States. Wetlands make up almost 60% of the refuge including salt marsh, freshwater and brackish marshes, sloughs, and impoundments. About 30% of the BNWR consists of valuable and vanishing coastal prairie. The bird life in BNWR is diverse and numerous including reddish egrets, curlews, terns, plovers, pelicans, Ibis, falcons, and huge numbers of ducks, geese, shorebirds, songbirds, wading birds, and other avian species. The marshes are nursery areas for shrimp, crabs, and finfish like croaker, flounder, weakfish, and drum.

The Houston Sierra Club opposed the GCRSDC and sent letters to the Federal Aviation Administration. The real thanks go to the Friends of BNWR which lobbied effectively the FAA and Commissioners Court. Let us celebrate the protection of our precious National Wildlife Refuge System. Visit BNWR, enjoy wildlife in all its myriad forms, and know that it is yours to steward and protect.

May 2007

Last updated:  03/31/2007.   Content © 1999-2007 by the Sierra Club.