Beal confirms St Croix pull out not linked to Guyana deal
Beal Aerospace Technologies has confirmed that its decision to move its assembly plant from St Croix, the US Virgin Islands has no bearing on its interest in Guyana as a potential launch site. "The vehicles that would have been manufactured in St Croix will be manufactured in the United States and easily shipped to Guyana and other launch sites by sea," Wade Gates, corporate affairs director and spokesperson for Beal, told Stabroek News recently. Beal recently pulled its investment plans from St Croix amidst opposition there to the use of land formerly allocated for recreational purposes for satellite vehicle assembly. Beal had planned to spend close to US$100 million on that project on St Croix. It manufactures the vehicles in McGregor, Texas. The company is negotiating with the government for an agreement to launch rockets from a point in the Waini, in the North West. Gates also said that his company is "actively moving forward" on all potential launch sites which include Sombrero Island, Cape Canaveral and Guyana. "Our discussions with the government [of Guyana] are proceeding, and we're continuing to methodically work through the remaining issues," Gates stated. Beal initially plans to launch satellites from Cape Canaveral until it can secure its own long-term launch pad. Guyana was not the company's number one priority until it encountered obstacles in Anguilla and in the UK to making the 90-acre Sombrero Island its launch pad. The environmental impact assessment found that the nested booby birds would have been scared off and other wildlife would have been affected by the operations of Beal on the island off Anguilla.
|