Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary officials have informed Space Transport Corp. that the Forks-based company’s rocket launches are in violation of federal laws protecting the sanctuary.
“We have advised Space Transport that firing of a rocket constitutes a discharge, which is basically in violation,” said Bob Steelquist, the marine sanctuary’s education and outreach coordinator.
He said a discharge would include “any foreign substance” such as rocket fuel.
The sanctuary, which encompasses about 3,300 square miles of Pacific Ocean, extends from Cape Flattery in Clallam County to the mouth of the Copalis River in Grays Harbor County.
Steelquist said Space Transport’s founders Phillip Storm and Eric Meier were informed of the federal sanctuary’s rules months prior to the Aug. 8 launch, which lobbed debris and a still-burning engine into the ocean off a beach bluff near Queets.
The site was within the sanctuary.
“We told them that they would not be in violation of any sanctuary regulations if the rocket did not splash down in the sanctuary,” Steelquist said.
“We advised them not to fire off over the sanctuary, and that’s the best option to take to avoid a violation.”
Steelquist said the discharge Aug. 8 was “well-documented,” and “our office has been in contact with our national office.”
Law enforcement authorities with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also been contacted, he said.
Steelquist said an NOAA permit would be required of Space Transport to launch over the sanctuary again.