Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas, according to a CNBC report.
TakeAway Points:
- The Texas environmental department stated in a notification last week that Elon Musk’s SpaceX had breached environmental standards by discharging contaminants into or close to bodies of water in the state.
- SpaceX was also alerted by the Environmental Protection Agency that it had violated the Clean Water Act five months prior to the release of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) report.
- A larger number of Startship launches from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas may be jeopardised by the violations.
SpaceX violated environmental regulations
A state government claimed in a notice of violation that the company’s water deluge system at its Starbase launch pad was the source of Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s repeated violations of environmental standards by discharging contaminants into or near bodies of water in Texas.
The notice from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) last week came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 office, which covers Texas and surrounding states, had also informed SpaceX that it violated the Clean Water Act with the same type of activity.
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 discharging deluge water without TCEQ authorization.”
“In total, the Harlingen region received 14 complaints alleging environmental impacts from the facility’s deluge system,” the regulator said in the document.
Aerospace companies, including SpaceX, generally need to be in compliance with state and federal laws to gain approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for future launches. SpaceX was seeking permission to conduct up to 25 annual launches and landings of its Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket at its Boca Chica facility. Notices of violation could delay those approvals and result in civil monetary penalties for SpaceX, further probes and criminal charges.
According to a lengthy post on X following the publication of this story, SpaceX said regulators have told the company that it can continue with launch operations despite the violation notices.
“Throughout our ongoing coordination with both TCEQ and the EPA, we have explicitly asked if operation of the deluge system needed to stop and we were informed that operations could continue,” SpaceX wrote on X.
Violation Cases
On July 25, 2024, an environmental investigator with TCEQ “conducted an in-house compliance record review” to determine SpaceX’s compliance with wastewater regulations. The investigation found that SpaceX discharged industrial wastewater without a permit 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 build that system into its launch site at Boca Chica before it began test flights of the largest rocket ever, Starship.
SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and equipment to the moon and, if Musk eventually 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 launchpad to explode, and its spacecraft also blew up in mid-air.
Chunks of concrete were hurled into a nesting and migration site important to some endangered species nearby and a 3.5-acre fire chewed through Boca Chica State Park Land south of the launchpad. In response, environmental groups filed a lawsuit against SpaceX and the FAA, which had authorized its launches.
With Musk pushing for another orbital test flight within one to two months, SpaceX rushed to rebuild the launchpad, installing a new water deluge system to keep it from exploding again. The company bypassed a permitting process, according to the regulators, which would have required it to meet pollutant discharge limits and say how it would treat its wastewater.
SpaceX ran its first full-pressure test of the water deluge system in July 2023. About a month later, on Aug. 25, 2023, the EPA initiated a probe and requested information from the company regarding its wastewater discharges and more.
Notice of violation to SpaceX
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 pressed ahead with its third test flight of Starship, again using its unauthorized water deluge system at the launch site.
The company hit new milestones with the test flight and Musk appeared triumphant. NASA chief Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX on “a successful test flight!” although the rocket was lost during its descent above the Indian Ocean.
Environmental engineer Eric Roesch, whose ESG Hound blog focuses on business and sustainability, predicted SpaceX would need a water deluge system at the launchpad even before the first test flight of Starship. He was also among the first to call out SpaceX for using such a system without proper permits.
Once the agencies had informed SpaceX it was in violation of environmental regulations, continuing with launch operations at Starbase put the company at greater legal risk, Roesch said in an interview.
“Further wastewater discharges could trigger more investigations and criminal charges for the company or any of the people involved in authorizing the launches,” he said.
