SpaceX Accused of Multiple Environmental Violations in Texas
TapTechNews August 13th news, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, has been accused of violating environmental regulations multiple times this year and illegally discharging pollutants into Texas waters. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) clearly pointed out in the violation notice released last week that there are serious problems with the water deluge system at SpaceX's Starbase launch site.
It is worth noting that as early as March this year, the Office of the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 (responsible for Texas and surrounding areas) had already issued a similar violation notice to SpaceX, accusing it of violating the Clean Water Act.
The violation notice and related investigation records obtained by CNBC show that the TCEQ Harlingen regional office received a complaint on August 6, 2023, saying that SpaceX discharged untreated wastewater without authorization. Subsequently, a total of 14 complaints about the environmental impact caused by the water deluge system at the Starbase launch site were received in this area.
According to regulations, aerospace companies including SpaceX must comply with state and federal laws in order to obtain the launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). SpaceX had applied to conduct up to 25 Starship rocket launches and landings per year at the Boca Chica base. The violation notice may delay the approval process and may result in civil fines for SpaceX, and may even trigger more in-depth investigations and criminal charges.
In a long article posted on the social media platform X (attached at the end of the text), SpaceX responded by saying that the regulatory agency has informed the company that despite the existence of the violation notice, it can continue its launch operations.
An environmental investigator from TCEQ conducted an internal compliance record review of SpaceX's wastewater discharge situation on July 25, 2024. The investigation found that SpaceX discharged industrial wastewater without permission four times between March and July this year.
The water deluge system is usually used to disperse the heat, noise and energy generated during orbital test flights and rocket launches. But SpaceX did not build this system at the Boca Chica launch site before conducting the first test flight of its largest rocket, the Starship.
In April 2023, the first test flight of the Starship led to the explosion of the launch pad, and the rocket also disintegrated in the air. A large amount of concrete debris was scattered to nearby important bird habitats and migration areas, and a 3.5-acre fire burned the Boca Chica State Park land south of the launch pad.
In order to avoid another explosion, SpaceX quickly rebuilt the launch pad and installed a new water deluge system, but bypassed the approval process and did not limit pollutant emissions and explain the wastewater treatment method as required.
In July 2023, SpaceX conducted the first full-pressure test of the water deluge system. One month later, on August 25, 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency launched an investigation and required SpaceX to provide information about wastewater discharge and other aspects. The agency officially issued a violation notice to SpaceX on March 13, 2024.
Despite receiving the notice from the Environmental Protection Agency the day before, SpaceX still continued the third test flight of the Starship on March 14 and again used the unauthorized water deluge system.
TapTechNews noted that in its statement, SpaceX claimed that the water deluge system will n ot cause any harm to the environment, and stated that the other licenses obtained can be used as authorization for using this system. However, coastal ecologist Kenneth Teague evaluated SpaceX's license application and found that there are a large number of loopholes in the application, lacking basic information about water discharge volume, wastewater temperature and discharge location. Teague is particularly worried about the concentration of mercury in SpaceX's wastewater from the water deluge system, and he said that the mercury content disclosed in the application far exceeds the mercury water quality standard.
Teague also pointed out that high-temperature emissions and high concentrations of pollutants such as mercury may have a serious negative impact on the marine ecosystem. He criticized SpaceX's application for failing to address this serious problem.
SpaceX responded by saying that no mercury was detected in its samples. But in the license application, the company acknowledged that the mercury concentration at one discharge port location was 113 micrograms per liter, while the acute aquatic toxicity limit stipulated by the state water quality standard is 2.1 micrograms per liter, and the human health limit is even lower.
