Dr. Koller was a senior administrator at Brevard Community College (now Eastern Florida State College) and a NASA engineer/manager during Mercury, Apollo, Skylab, ASTP, and Space Shuttle. Dr. Koller was the NASA lead for the Space Shuttle’s Environmental Impact Statement.
Dr. Koller’s comments on the USSF SpaceX Environmental Impact Statement
This email is in response to the scoping effort now underway for the Space Force Starship EIS. I’m a retired aerospace employee who served as the NASA lead for development of the Environmental Impact Statement for Space Shuttle (1979) and am familiar with the NEPA process. I’ve attached a brief career summary for your information.
I attended the public meeting in Titusville and offer the following for consideration.
- There is a growing need for formal coordination among the lead organizations operating individually to address spaceport development issues. The affiliated organizations listed on the briefing charts did not include some of the key actors such as NOAA, the USARMYCOE, and DOI, as well as numerous state, county and local groups that should be included in the work seeking data inputs, past issues, etc. Attached is a chart listing some but not all of those for consideration.
- As a project crossing the property boundaries between NASA and Space Force requiring an environmental impact statement, there are a number of prior data sets that may be useful. Attached is one of the most comprehensive from NASA’s Ecological Monitoring Program. Similar data from Air Force and Space Force work within the spaceport boundaries should be sought out and included as references to strengthen and impact predictions, monitoring programs, and data to be developed for this EIS.
- Given the expected traffic models and the emerging new companies providing boosters, spacecraft, and operational support, emphasis is needed to provide for management of cumulative effects and areas of concern to be addressed through modeling, testing, and long term data gathering. These areas of concern should include projected impacts to all five modes of transportation – road, rail, sea, air and space.
- Last but not least, impacts to the community for all areas of infrastructure and services should be identified and expected impacts quantified. Those should include interactions with the growing number of cruise passengers, the increased closure to the Canaveral National Seashore, the implementation of notices to marine activities including access to fisheries, and any expected increase in visitor access for launch viewing as has become an issue at Boca Chica.
If I can assist in any way, please feel free to call on me. Thank you for the very open scoping process and the chance to identify areas for consideration in development of this important and far reaching EIS.
Dr. Al Koller
https://e3Company.com