‘Stop messing with Texas waters’: Locals speak out at SpaceX permit hearing over the company’s deluge system for its Starship rocket.
South Texas residents aren’t buying SpaceX’s reassurances that its Starship operation near Boca Chica Beach doesn’t pollute area waters. Nearly four dozen people gave Texas environmental regulators an earful at a recent public meeting in Brownsville over the company’s request for a permit that would allow it to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater into the sensitive wetlands surrounding its launch site. Hundreds more submitted written comments.
SpaceX president calls regulatory actions ‘nonsense,’ seeks more Texas cooperation, funding Last month, for example, the company’s president said state and federal environmental regulators’ actions against the company are “nonsense.” The permitting debate stems from use of SpaceX’s so-called deluge system, which resembles a giant, upturned shower nozzle under the launch platform.
Here’s who’s blocking Elon Musk’s bid to rename land around SpaceX in South Texas as Starbase SpaceX wants to use the system up to 30 times annually, a number that will jump if the FAA approves the company’s request to launch and land Starship and its Super Heavy Booster 25 times each year, up from six. That separate environmental battle is on hold, awaiting a revised draft environmental assessment and additional public meetings.
In most successful Starship test flight yet, SpaceX lands massive booster at South Texas Starbase Harrison even challenged regulators and SpaceX reps to stand by their position with a future challenge. “I invite you to a fish fry in five years, I’ll bring you the fish from South Bay,” he said. “We can all sit down and eat it together, and we can all enjoy the fruits of your labor, so giddy up.
SpaceX fined nearly $150,000 by the Environmental Protection Agency for water violations, fuel spill SpaceX has been operating the system since last year without a permit, which it applied for in July. The penalties came too late for Jim Chapman of Weslaco, a board member of environmental advocacy group SaveRGV, who questioned why it took so long for regulators to evaluate the deluge system after it was installed.
Texas Commission On Environmental Quality International Boundary And Water Commission Environmental Protection Agency Federal Aviation Administration Mission Texas Parks And Wildlife Department Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Texas Coastal Management Program Glenn Harrison Residents Marcus Garcia Estella Torres Joaquin Villarreal Kelly Keel Jim Chapman Starbase Harrison Gorilla Julie Pedraza South Texas Brownsville Elon Musk Boca Chica Beach South Bay Mars Rio Grande River Gulf Of Mexico South Padre Island Lower Rio Grande Valley Laguna Madre Boca Chica State Park Mexican Amigo Land Events Center Mexico Weslaco Harlingen Starship Savergv Super Heavy Booster
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