Should KSC Have a Space Monopoly?

Florida Today reports that several Brevard County officials insist they should have a monopoly in human space flight.

A proposal by NASA's Wallops Flight Facility to support launches of human spaceflight missions from Virginia may pose a "direct threat" to the economy and work force on the Space Coast, local leaders say ...

"The most pressing issue for the Florida workforce is the sense of betrayal that their tax dollars might be used in establishing a competing orbital human spaceflight launch capability in another state when they have so well and ably done the job here in Florida," wrote Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, in a letter dated last month.

The article also quotes Space Florida President Frank DiBello as writing:

With about 7,000 contractor jobs lost due to the space shuttle's retirement this year, "no community is more egregiously impacted than Florida," DiBello wrote. "It seems that building redundant facilities in Virginia will only further exacerbate that adverse impact."

Nowhere in these self-absorbed complaints do they appear to be concerned with what is best for the national interest.

It's only logical that the United States should have some redundancy in its space launch capabilities. What if the Space Coast is run over by a Category 5 hurricane?

It's also another example of the arrogance some locals have, insisting that they have some sort of privileged status when it comes to government funding.