Your Voice Is Important for Canaveral’s Future

For nearly 70 years, this nation’s space program has launched rockets to the moon and to outer orbits while also attempting to practice good stewardship on the ground back home in Florida.

A recent proposal by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would exempt commercial space flights from many federal environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Clean Water Act. 

Lifting these regulations could directly impact species living in Canaveral National Seashore and Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, such as the Florida Scrub-Jay, as well as species living in and migrating through the area’s estuarine and coastal Atlantic waters, such as Florida manatees, Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, four species of nesting sea turtles and North Atlantic Right Whales that calve just offshore in Central Florida every winter.

Also at risk are the many migratory birds visiting this region along the Atlantic Flyway, as well as deep-water, off-shore coral reefs that could potentially be impacted by rocket-launch activity. Without the existing environmental protections, these species are at great risk and even possible extinction.

To comment to the FAA by the deadline of August 31, click on the button below.