by Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas, a state agency said in a violation notice that targeted the company’s water deluge system at its Starbase launch facility.
The announcement from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 6 office, which covers Texas and surrounding states, also notified SpaceX that it had violated the Clean Water Act with the same type of action. .
The announcements and related investigative records, previously obtained by CNBC, were not reported.
TCEQ said its agency’s office in the South Texas city of Harlingen, near Starbase in Boca Chica, received a complaint on Aug. 6, 2023, alleging that SpaceX “was releasing floodwater without TCEQ authorization.”
“In total, the Harlingen region received 14 complaints alleging environmental impact from the Facility’s flood system,” the regulator said in the document.
Aerospace companies, including SpaceX, generally must comply with state and federal laws to obtain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for future launches. SpaceX had sought permission for up to 25 annual launches and landings of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket at its Boca Chica facility. Violation notices could delay those approvals and subject SpaceX to civil monetary penalties, further investigations and criminal charges.
In a lengthy post on X, after this story was published, SpaceX said regulators told the company it can continue launch operations despite the violation notices.
“Through our ongoing coordination with both TCEQ and the EPA, we specifically requested that the operation of the deluge system be stopped and were advised that operations could continue,” SpaceX wrote on X.
Neither regulator responded to CNBC’s questions about SpaceX’s statement.
Rush to rebuild
On July 25, 2024, an environmental investigator with TCEQ conducted an “internal review of compliance records” to determine SpaceX’s compliance with wastewater regulations. The investigation found that SpaceX released industrial wastewater without a license four times between March and July of this year.
Water deluge systems with flame deflectors diffuse heat, sound and energy generated by orbital test flights and rocket launches. But SpaceX didn’t install that system at its launch site at Boca Chica before it began test flights of its largest rocket ever, Starship.
SpaceX is developing Starship to carry people and equipment to the moon and, if Musk realizes his grand vision, to colonize Mars. In its first test flight of Starship in April 2023, energy from the rocket caused SpaceX’s concrete launch pad to explode, and its spacecraft also blew up in mid-air.
Concrete chunks were driven into a nesting and migration site important to several nearby endangered species and a 3.5-acre fire chewed through Boca Chica State Park Land south of the launch pad. In response, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against SpaceX and the FAA, which authorized its launch.
With Musk pushing for another orbital test flight within a month or two, SpaceX rushed to rebuild the launch pad, installing a new water deluge system to keep it from exploding again. The company bypassed a licensing process, according to regulators, which required it to meet pollutant discharge limits, and say how it would deal with its wastewater.
SpaceX conducted its first full-pressure test of the water deluge system in July 2023. About a month later, on August 25, 2023, the EPA initiated a probe and requested information from the company regarding its wastewater release and more .
The agency issued a formal notice of violation to SpaceX on March 13, according to records obtained by CNBC.
On March 14, despite receiving the EPA notice a day earlier, SpaceX proceeded with its third test flight of Starship, again using its unauthorized water deluge system at the launch site.
The company achieved new milestones with the test flight and Musk seemed triumphant. NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on a “successful test flight!” although the rocket was lost during its descent over the Indian Ocean.
Environmental engineer Eric Roesch, whose blog ESG Hound focuses on business and sustainability, predicted that SpaceX would need a water deluge system at the launch pad even before the first test flight of Starship. He was among the first to call out SpaceX for using such a system without proper permits.
When the agencies notified SpaceX that it was violating environmental regulations, continuing launch operations at Starbase put the company at greater legal risk, Roesch said in an interview.
“Further investigations and criminal charges could prompt the company or anyone involved in authorizing the launches,” he said.
Years of violations
Roesch also pointed out that after receiving a violation notice from the EPA, SpaceX would need to apply for a permit within 30 days. The company didn’t submit its application until July 1, about 110 days later, according to a copy of its application made available through the TCEQ’s public records office.
“They’ve been violating wastewater regulations for years, and they continue to do so with what appears to be the blessing of the FAA,” Roesch said.
In its statement on Monday, SpaceX wrote that the deluge system does “no harm to the environment”. The company said other permits SpaceX receives are authorization to use it.
Kenneth Teague, a coastal ecologist based outside Austin, evaluated the 483-page SpaceX permit application. Teague, who has more than three decades of water quality and coastal planning experience, told CNBC that the application was full of holes, missing basic data about water discharge volumes, effluent temperatures and outfall locations.
Teague said he is particularly concerned about the concentration of mercury in the wastewater from SpaceX’s water deluge system. The levels revealed in the document represent “extreme violations of mercury water quality criteria,” Teague said.
According to the US Geological Survey, mercury is “one of the most serious pollutants threatening our nation’s waters because it is a potent neurological poison in fish, wildlife and humans.”
Teague said high-temperature emissions, and pollutants such as mercury in high concentrations, could have “significant negative impacts” by killing the “little critters” in the seabird diet.
“The SpaceX application does not address this very serious concern,” he said.
SpaceX said in its response to X that “no detectable levels of mercury” were found in its samples. But SpaceX wrote in its license application that its mercury concentration at one escape site was 113 micrograms per liter. State water quality criteria require levels no higher than 2.1 micrograms per liter for acute aquatic toxicity and much lower levels for human health.
CNBC contacted the FAA on Friday. The agency did not comment for this story but announced Monday that it was postponing public meetings planned for this week. The meetings were with an environmental assessment for “SpaceX’s plan to increase launches and landings of its Starship / Super Heavy vehicles scheduled at the Boca Chica Launch Site in Cameron County, Texas.”
The FAA gave no reason for the postponements and said new dates will be announced in the future.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
