To the Journal editor:

The Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association says Loma Farms, at the shoreline Thoney’s Point, is the best place for Michigan’s vertical launch spaceport. There is nothing there but trees.

MAMA says there will be jobs, jobs, jobs, just what Marquette County wants and needs. But where will all these jobs be? And who will fill these jobs?

MAMA says a launch will “sound like a lawnmower,” no worries. MAMA says any flying debris will burn or just drop into the lake, no worries. MAMA doesn’t mention the recommended evacuations, launches going off course, or those acres of trees possibly ignited during a “failure,” nor mention the failure rate of these launches.

MAMA doesn’t mention the Youtube launch videos demonstrating noise and earth shaking. MAMA may not know how sounds carry over water. MAMA does not mention the recent crumbling of the sandstone shoreline near Thoney’s Point, just from the storms on the lake, and does not discuss shore degradation from shock or the rush of water released at launch.

MAMA says the rockets run on “green fuel,” no worries. Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket was used in developing this plan. The company says it runs on a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene. Not so green.

MAMA does not mention the round-the-clock launch history of other spaceports, rocket blasts at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 6 a.m., seemingly whenever.

I live a half-mile, as the rocket flies, from Thoney’s Point. I am a neighbor of Loma Farms. I am worried. My future plans are on hold. Many people and other creatures large and small live in our neighborhood. Evacuation? For how long? Where will I go? Who will care that I cannot occupy my home 12 to 24 times a year? Who would buy my home next to a launch site?

When speaking of the Upper Peninsula, I have often heard people say “there is nothing there.” Those of us who live here for a reason know that is wrong. A spaceport squeezed into a corner of Granot Loma is a bad idea and poor use of our increasingly rare natural ecosystem, which we must preserve.