Beals and Jonesport residents and others who make their living at sea voted Tuesday in strong opposition to a proposal from a Brunswick company that hopes to use a nearby island as a launch site for small satellites.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea because of the impact it’s going to have on fishermen,” said fourth generation lobsterman Mathew Drisko as he left Beals Town Hall.
The select board decided to poll residents from Jonesport and Beals, and fishermen as young as 16 from nearby towns, to find out how locals feel about a proposal from bluShift Aerospace to use Water Island to launch satellites into orbit. The company is also proposing to bring a manufacturing facility and command and control operations to the area.
With 321 people casting ballots, 146 area fishermen voted no and seven voted in favor, said Town Clerk Terry Beal. Among community members, 159 voted no, eight voted in favor and one voted “maybe.”
Several voters leaving the polls Tuesday shared Drisko’s concern that lobstermen would be restricted on when and where they could haul traps because boats would not be able to be in the area during certain times on launch days.
The Beals vote follows a special town meeting last week in Jonesport where residents voted 60-4 to put in place a six-month moratorium on aerospace facilities to give the town time to draft regulations.
Despite the opposition, bluShift CEO Sascha Deri said he will continue to try to win over the locals. He said he supports the moratorium and plans to serve on the committee to help develop the ordinance. The Beals vote concerns him more because he doesn’t feel he’s had adequate time to answer questions and get accurate information out about the project.
“There’s a lot of miscommunication, a lot of misunderstanding,” he said. “Most people in the community don’t have the facts in hand. I’d like the vote to be not just of emotion, but of facts.”
The six-month moratorium will give the community time to learn more about the project and be heard at public meetings, he said.
“We’ve heard from a few voices and seen in previous town hall meetings where other people in the community were shut down if they didn’t agree with the louder voices,” Deri said.
One man leaving town hall on Tuesday expressed a similar sentiment, saying he did not want to be quoted by name because he supported the project.
“There couldn’t be a company any more flexible than bluShift,” he said. “They are trying to bend over backwards to make it better for the community.”
In January, the company launched the first commercial rocket powered by bio-derived fuel in the world from Aroostook County. In September, Deri told Spectrum News he hoped to find an island off the coast that would give him the ability to launch due south to get to the polar orbit, a route that’s attractive to researchers and academics.
Uninhabited Water Island, which Deri described as 90% granite, is ideal for the company because it gives them the room and trajectory they need.
“The reason we like it so much is it keeps us a safe radius away from people and property,” Deri said.
BluShift pitches itself as an environmentally sound option – Deri said his fuel is “very close to carbon neutral.” His fuel blend is a proprietary secret and it took four years to figure out the optimal mix.
BluShift is part of a growing and potentially lucrative industry that launches nanosatellites into orbit to support communications, such as broadband or satellite television. The satellites weigh less than 10 kilograms, the equivalent of about 22 pounds.
The company will target researchers who want to send experiments into polar orbit. Only two other states in the U.S. offer that service – California and Alaska – and it’s expensive, he said. The company’s biggest competitor is in New Zealand.
For weeks, Deri has headed up to the Jonesport/Beals area for meetings with town officials and residents. He’s held three town hall-style meetings, where he’s heard a range of comments.
“We have folks who are very concerned,” he said. “Folks who are very excited and folks in the middle who are indifferent one way or another.”
One of the very concerned residents is Glenda Beal of Jonesport, who said on Monday that she and others in town are worried about potential environmental impacts, noise and disruption to the fishing industry. That’s because for two to three hours around a launch, a 1.4-mile radius will need to be kept clear of any boats.
“There’s no way this is going to mesh with our fishing heritage,” Beal said.
Deri said the company is willing to work around busy fishing times, possibly by launching rockets on Sundays or in the late afternoons when lobstermen are already back at the dock.
“We think it’s feasible to coordinate with the community to make sure nobody’s living is impacted and we can all enjoy taking advantage of the ocean,” he said. “We really don’t want to impact the heritage industries of the region.”
Deri said bringing a new type of industry to Washington County will help diversify the economy and give opportunities for local students to stay in the area. He said the skills needed to build rockets are similar to those necessary to build boats, including welding and machining. During a presentation to Jonesport-Beals High School students, he got an enthusiastic response, he said.
If it can get the needed approvals, the company projects that it will create 25-35 high-paying jobs in the next five years in the area. In 10 years, it hopes to launch rockets 32 times a year.
As they left the town hall Tuesday, Broderick Alley, who’s been lobstering for 40 years, and his daughter, Jennifer Ciappetta, who’s got more than two decades of lobstering experience, said they are concerned about possible accidents on the launch pad and fishing restrictions.
“I say keep it down somewhere else,” Alley said.