Is anything known why they stopped pursuing the offshore space port idea? I assume SpaceX found some significant drawbacks that weren't obvious when they bought the oil rigs just a few years ago.
Shotwell said "They were not the right platform" and that they needed "to first start launching Starship and better understand that vehicle before building offshore launch platforms".
The stated goal of Starship is that the booster can be refueled and relaunched from the recovery tower within hours. So "launch platform" is a misnomer, these guys are ideally also recovery platforms (with the chopsticks and all that). In addition, even if an offshore platform could work for booster recovery, it still needs a Starship to be stacked. There's probably a bunch of concern about having a Starship sitting around in the open near a booster recovery (the exact effect of blast/debris around a booster recovery is probably one thing they'd want to characterize).
Still, that's not a new fact, so there must have been a reason why they first thought offshore space ports were a valuable addition and then later changed their mind.
For example, rockets launched from Florida to ISS initially head northeast. A similar launch from Boca Chica would place the trajectory uncomfortably close to Houston.
Not sure about oil rigs
But I can imagine all sorts of reasons why using an offshore platform introduces a bunch of challenges that launching from land doesn't have. Though of course, the ability to get away from people is a plus too.
It did not even want to build a proper launchpad at Boca Chica, which did not work out so well.
Yes, there's some interesting papers post-fact on the ejecta but it was still dumb.
SpaceX was already shipping a fabricated deluge system to Starbase 3 months before the first flight tore up the LaunchPad [1]. At the end of the day, the rocket did get off the pad. The repair was completed and the ready waiting deluge system installed in less than 3 months.
This aspect is always lost in the bluster from Musk, and claims of incompetence from critics.
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starbase-starship-deluge-sy...
The reason the deluge system was installed so quickly is exactly the reason you can't argue that 'they wanted to see if they could do without'. They knew a priori that it was necessary, that's why they'd basically already staged the hardware.
Installing a deluge system pre-launch would have cost them a month, a month that they wouldn't have spent afterwards, waiting for another round of sign-offs.
It was a dumb decision and posting fan-blogs like Teslarati isn't a good argument.
That said, I think you are right. Most of it comes down to how much someone cares about debris in the wetland and dust clouds.
They're trying to make their little slice of land into an actual city. Next stop, carve out that land to become a separate state. Then he can just become governor since he can't be president without having a co- prefix.
SpaceX is waiting for Starship launch authorisation from the FAA.
"Pretty much bulldozed a clear path for SpaceX doing whatever it wants" implies the former.