Residents pressed Castelion Corporation executives about noise, environmental impacts and safety measures during a community meeting Dec. 9 as the defense contractor moves forward with plans for a hypersonic missile manufacturing facility west of Rio Rancho.
Andrew Kreitz, co-founder and chief financial officer of the California-based company, spent nearly two hours answering questions about Project Ranger, the 1,000-acre facility that will be located about 2.8 miles west of King Boulevard in unincorporated Sandoval County.
The meeting at The HUB @ Enchanted Hills drew dozens of residents from nearby communities, many raising concerns about how the facility will affect their daily lives. Rio Rancho City Councilor Bob Tyler also attended, telling residents he has been satisfied with the company’s responses to his questions.
“The company seems like a really good business,” Tyler said, describing himself as “an advocate for the city” on the project.
Castelion officially selected Sandoval County for the facility Nov. 17, ending months of speculation following community meetings in October where hundreds of residents questioned the project’s safety and environmental impacts.
Manufacturing process explained
Kreitz walked residents through the manufacturing process, describing it as similar to baking. The facility will mix dry ingredients including ammonium perchlorate, a chemical oxidizer that provides oxygen for burning, with aluminum powder as fuel and wet ingredients into a slurry. That mixture will be cast into metal tubes, cured at low temperatures for several days, then assembled with electronics, fins and other components into finished missiles.
“It really is very similar to that process,” Kreitz said, comparing it to baking.
The solid rocket motors power hypersonic missiles, which travel faster than five times the speed of sound. Kreitz said the United States faces a significant disadvantage compared to adversaries like China and Russia in hypersonic capabilities.
“Without exaggeration, they are 20 years ahead of us,” Kreitz said, explaining the company’s mission to restore U.S. manufacturing capacity for long-range weapons.
The Torrance, California-based company, founded in late 2022 by former SpaceX employees, has raised about $450 million in private capital and secured about $200 million in contracts. The team includes veterans from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon space capsule programs, as well as employees from defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Addressing resident concerns
Noise emerged as a frequent concern. Kreitz said static fire tests of rocket motors would last 10 to 30 seconds, generating sound levels comparable to a lawn mower at the distance of Northern Meadows, the closest residential community about 2.9 miles away. Tests would only occur during business hours.
“We’d be violating local noise ordinances if we did night,” Kreitz said.
Multiple residents asked about environmental impacts, particularly dust and runoff into nearby arroyos. One resident noted severe siltation problems along the Rio Grande from construction activity.
“It’s really bad,” the resident said, describing dying cottonwood trees. “I have seen it happen in a short amount of time.”
Kreitz acknowledged the concern, saying the company’s civil engineers have designed runoff mitigation systems, though he said he didn’t have detailed plans available at the meeting. Roads on site will be paved to minimize dust from vehicle traffic.
Water usage also drew questions. Kreitz said the facility would use water equivalent to about 50 households, primarily for bathrooms and sinks. No water will be used in the rocket motor production process itself.
“We don’t use any process water at the facility,” Kreitz said.
A retired geological engineer who worked on contamination cleanup at Southern California defense sites pressed about groundwater protection. Kreitz said all manufacturing occurs indoors on concrete pads to prevent leaks or spills from reaching groundwater. The company will contract with approved disposal companies to remove waste materials, including excess propellant, cleaning products and contaminated wipes.
Safety protocols and security
The facility design includes substantial setback distances between buildings as required by federal regulations, Kreitz said. In a worst-case scenario involving a fire in a processing building, the spacing would prevent flames from spreading.
Water cannot be used to fight fires involving ammonium perchlorate or aluminum powder, Kreitz confirmed. The strategy would be to evacuate personnel and let fires burn while preventing spread to other structures.
Tyler noted that Rio Rancho Fire Chief James Wenzel had raised concerns about the facility’s high-hazard classification and its effects on department resources. The city is negotiating agreements with the county and state to handle fire service responsibilities.
Security concerns also surfaced, with residents noting that children frequently ride motorcycles and side-by-sides in the area. Tyler, a former police officer, said the facility will have perimeter fencing and armed security personnel who undergo psychological evaluations similar to police officer requirements. Many security staff will need federal security clearances.
“We want a lot of these folks to have security clearances given the nature of what we’re dealing with,” Kreitz said.
Traffic and infrastructure
Several residents questioned traffic impacts on Highway 550, which already experiences heavy congestion during morning and evening commutes near Cleveland High School.
Kreitz said the company has discussed delivery timing with city officials to avoid peak traffic hours. The state plans to extend Paseo del Volcan west to the facility, providing a direct route that bypasses residential areas. Rio Rancho is contributing about $1 million toward the road extension, with the state and county providing the bulk of funding.
Current road conditions drew pointed questions. One resident described Northern Boulevard as having potholes so severe “it’s either, are they drunk, or they know where the potholes are.”
Economic impact and timeline
The facility is projected to create at least 300 jobs by the end of year five with an average salary of $100,000. Kreitz said the workforce would be split roughly evenly between engineers and technicians.
The company expects to invest more than $100 million over the first four years. Site clearing has already begun, with groundbreaking planned for early 2026.
Sandoval County has approved $125 million in industrial revenue bonds for the project. A $10 million incentive package includes $5 million from the state, $4 million from Sandoval County and up to $1 million from Rio Rancho.
No missiles will be launched from the site, Kreitz said. Flight testing will occur at Department of Defense ranges. The facility will conduct static fire tests where motors are held down on concrete test stands and ignited to collect performance data.
Kreitz said Sandia National Laboratories has completed a safety study, though the company’s environmental plume study with Sandia is still underway.
Tyler encouraged residents with ongoing concerns to contact him directly rather than posting on social media.
“If something happens out there, something’s going on that bugs you or worries your concerns, you call me,” Tyler told the crowd. “Don’t panic and start putting crap on Facebook.”
Another community meeting is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Mariposa Community Center, 2501 Parkway Ave.
RESPONSE TO SIGNPOST ARTICLE ON CASTELION’S PROJECT RANGER
Thank you for covering last night’s community meeting. Residents have been desperate for transparent information after months of bulldozing, fencing, and road-grading on State Trust Land without permits, without a public hearing, and before the LEDA agreements were even executed.
While Castelion’s CFO spent nearly two hours answering questions, many of the responses repeated earlier talking points and contradicted the company’s own filings, the LEDA documents, and known scientific and environmental standards. Several critical concerns remain unanswered:
1. NOISE STATEMENTS CONTRADICT SCIENCE AND ARE NOT SUPPORTED BY DATA
Residents were told again that static rocket-motor tests will sound “like a lawnmower” 3 miles away.
This claim is physically impossible given the propellant types involved and the open-air basin acoustics of the Rio Grande Rift.
Castelion has not released:
the required acoustical modeling,
meteorological datasets,
atmospheric propagation analysis, or
Sandia’s plume/noise study (which is still unfinished).
A hypothetical “vacuum example” was referenced in prior presentations — but sound does not propagate in a vacuum. Residents deserve real data, not analogies.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL RISKS WERE MINIMIZED, DESPITE GLOBAL EVIDENCE
Ammonium perchlorate contamination has devastated groundwater in Utah, Nevada, Alabama, and California — every region where rocket-motor manufacturing has occurred.
Kreitz compared hypersonic fuel production to “baking,” which alarmed multiple engineers present. These are explosive oxidizers, not cake ingredients.
One retired geologist raised the real issue: perchlorate migrates through arroyos and into aquifers. Our region already faces extreme drought, declining river flows, and siltation killing the bosque. Residents were given verbal assurances but no hydrology study, no engineering drawings, and no spill-containment plans.
The LEDA documents demonstrate the County paid $25,810.79 for a plume study — but the study remains unpublished.
3609_PPA_Castelion_LEDA_(10.17.…
3. ROADWORK AND SITE CLEARING BEGAN BEFORE PUBLIC APPROVALS
According to the LEDA Intergovernmental Agreement, the City and County committed $1 million and $4 million respectively for the Paseo del Volcan extension to serve Castelion.
3609_SandCo_Ranger_LEDA_City_IG…
But grading, trenching, clearing, and heavy-equipment movement started months before these agreements were fully executed — and without visible permits posted.
This raises questions about unpermitted construction, compliance with State Land Office regulations, and whether LEDA funds were used improperly or prematurely.
4. FIRE RESPONSE REMAINS UNRESOLVED — “LET IT BURN” IS NOT AN EMERGENCY PLAN
Kreitz confirmed what experts already know:
You cannot put out ammonium perchlorate or aluminum powder fires with water.
The plan is evacuation and letting it burn.
But Rio Rancho Fire Chief Wenzel previously warned the city that the facility’s hazard classification would strain or exceed local firefighting capacity. No automatic aid agreement with the County or State has been presented. No plume-migration modeling, evacuation map, or wildfire-risk analysis has been released.
This facility sits in a wildfire corridor, during an era of megafires, with homes and tribal lands downwind.
5. WATER CLAIMS DO NOT MATCH REALITY
Residents were told the facility will use “the equivalent of 50 homes worth of water.”
But LEDA filings describe 119.8 million in improvements and a 1,000-acre manufacturing site, not a small workshop. Static-fire tests, dust suppression, road construction, and concrete curing also require water — yet those uses were omitted.
The region is entering an extinction-risk phase of water scarcity, documented in peer-reviewed hydrological studies. Downplaying water use is dangerous.
6. ECONOMIC CLAIMS ARE UNVERIFIED AND CARRY CLAWBACK RISKS
The PPA shows Castelion is required to create:
10 jobs by 2026,
150 jobs by 2028,
300 jobs by 2030,
or they must repay funds through “performance clawbacks.”
3609_PPA_Castelion_LEDA_(10.17.…
These jobs are not guaranteed, not local by requirement, and may never materialize. The County has no independent verification mechanism beyond quarterly self-reporting.
Meanwhile residents face the certain impacts:
noise, hazardous materials, traffic, dust, aquifer risk, and loss of open space.
7. CALLING RESIDENT CONCERNS “CRAP ON FACEBOOK” IS UNACCEPTABLE
Councilor Tyler’s comment urging residents not to “panic and start putting crap on Facebook” is deeply troubling.
Residents have been forced to investigate because the County repeatedly withheld information, held illegal meetings, or failed to provide public comment opportunities.
Transparency is not panic — it is democracy.
8. WHAT RESIDENTS ARE ASKING FOR
Before this project proceeds, the community requests:
A. A full NEPA Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
Given the involvement of:
federal hypersonic weapons programs,
State Trust Land,
Sole Source Aquifer protections,
hazardous materials,
new federal roadways, and
military-grade security,
an EIS is not optional — it is required.
B. A stop-work order on unpermitted construction
Road grading and site clearing must halt until all statutes are followed.
C. Immediate release of all studies
Including:
Sandia noise and plume modeling
Hydrology and spill-containment engineering
Wildlife and migratory-corridor assessments
Traffic and roadway engineering documents
Fire hazard and emergency-response plans
D. A joint Tribal, EPA Region 6, USACE, and State Land Office review
This site affects sovereign lands, cultural resources, and the entire Rio Grande Basin.
The public deserves truth, compliance with the law, and protection of water, land, and safety — not analogies, partial answers, or PR framing.
Residents will continue attending meetings, filing agency complaints, and demanding transparency because the stakes are too high for misinformation or shortcuts.
Thank you to the Signpost for reporting — and please continue pressing for the documents, not just the talking points.
Elaine, last weekend I was talking with a mutual friend about your extensive research into this audacious endeavor. You’re becoming my local shero! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I’m disabled and not up for attending meetings, but I can and will continue to write; on Facebook and elsewhere.
It appears to me that these meetings, which would never have taken place without public outcry, are attempts to pat a children on the head and tell them not to worry and let the adults in the room worry about the details!
We are not children and our homes and well-being can and will be impacted by everything they do. The fact that they began this project prior to getting appropriate permits and licenses and without residents’ notification indicate that this company and our city and county representatives, are in cahoots and trying to get this done before the public knows what’s happening to it. It smells like a con job from 2.9 miles away.
Elaine, Thank you so much for this information.
Thank you, Elaine, for following through with all the information and to FB and also ND or posting what is a local, county, state, and federal matter because it involves more of the military industrial manufacturing, and yes, that affects us all because it is our tax dollars at play. I have no idea what Rio Rancho officials were thinking, what Sandoval County officials were doing, and why if this is really not harmful, they did not ask for input, review, and comments before they began grading the land. Where was this publicized is an important question, especially later if things like “downwind” become important. I also do not think 300 engineers and technicians is worth all of this investment — NM needs jobs and an educated work force. I still think these will be imported and while 300 real estate agents might be happy, the ramifications of the plant extend beyond its workforce.