SpaceX repeatedly polluted Texas waters this year, regulators found

Elon Musk SpaceX violated environmental regulations by repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas, a state agency said in a notice of violation focused on the company’s water deluge system at its Starbase launch facility.

The warning 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 neighboring states, also informed SpaceX that it violated the Clean Water Act with the same type of activity.

The warnings and related investigative records, obtained by CNBC, have not been previously released.

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 flood water without authorization from TCEQ.” ”.

“In total, the Harlingen region received 14 complaints alleging environmental impacts from the Facility’s deluge system,” the regulator stated 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 releases. 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 these approvals and result in civil monetary penalties for SpaceX, further investigations and criminal charges.

In a long post on XAfter this story was published, SpaceX said regulators told the company it can continue launch operations despite the violation notices.

“Throughout our ongoing coordination with TCEQ and EPA, we explicitly asked whether deluge system operation needed to be stopped and were told that operations could continue,” SpaceX wrote in the X.

Neither regulator responded to CNBC’s questions about SpaceX’s statement.

A rush to rebuild

On July 25, 2024, a TCEQ environmental investigator “conducted an internal review of compliance records” to determine SpaceX’s compliance with wastewater regulations. The investigation found that SpaceX discharged industrial wastewater without authorization four times between March and July of this year.

Water deluge systems with flame baffles diffuse heat, sound and energy generated by orbital test flights and rocket launches. But SpaceX didn’t build that system at its Boca Chica launch site until it began test flights of its largest rocket ever, Starship.

SpaceX is developing Starship to transport people and equipment to the Moon and, if Musk eventually realizes his grand vision, colonize Mars. On Starship’s first test flight in April 2023, the rocket’s energy caused SpaceX’s concrete launch pad to explode, and its spacecraft also exploded in mid-air.

Chunks of concrete were dropped on a nearby important nesting and migration site for some endangered species, and a 3.5-acre fire destroyed Boca Chica State Park, south of the launch pad. 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 launch pad by installing a new water deluge system to prevent it from exploding again. The company bypassed a permitting process, according to regulators, that would have required it to comply with pollutant discharge limits and declare how it would treat its wastewater.

SpaceX performed its first full pressure test of the water deluge system in July 2023. About a month later, on August 25, 2023, the EPA began an investigation and requested information from the company about its wastewater discharges and more.

The agency issued a formal breach notice to SpaceX on March 13, according to records obtained by CNBC.

On March 14, despite having received warning from the EPA 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 reached 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 that SpaceX would need a water deluge system on the launch pad even before Starship’s first test flight. He was also one of the first to criticize SpaceX for using such a system without proper authorizations.

After agencies informed 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 wastewater discharges could trigger further investigations and criminal charges for the company or any of the people involved in authorizing the releases,” he said.

Years of violations

Roesch also highlighted that after receiving a notice of violation from the EPA, SpaceX was required to apply for a license within 30 days. The company only submitted the request on July 1, about 110 days later, according to a copy of the request available at the TCEQ public records office.

“They have been violating wastewater regulations for years and continue to do so, apparently with FAA approval,” Roesch said.

In its Monday statement, SpaceX wrote that the deluge system “does not cause harm to the environment.” The company said other licenses obtained by SpaceX serve as authorization for its use.

Kenneth Teague, a coastal ecologist based outside of Austin, reviewed the 483-page document SpaceX license application. Teague, who has more than three decades of experience in water quality and coastal planning, told CNBC that the application was full of holes, missing basic details about water discharge volumes, effluent temperatures and outfall locations.

Teague said he is especially concerned about the concentration of mercury in wastewater from SpaceX’s water deluge system. The levels disclosed in the document represent “very large exceedances of mercury water quality criteria,” Teague said.

According to the US Geological Survey, mercury is “one of the most serious contaminants threatening our nation’s waters because it is a potent neurological poison in fish, wildlife and humans.”

Teague said high-temperature discharges and pollutants like mercury in high concentrations can cause “significant negative impacts,” such as killing the “small creatures” that make up seabirds’ diets.

“The SpaceX app cannot resolve 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 July license application: under the heading Specific Test Requirements – Table 2 for Outfall: 001 — that its mercury concentration at an outfall site was 113 micrograms per liter. Water quality criteria in the state require levels no greater than 2.1 micrograms per liter for acute aquatic toxicity and much lower levels for human health.

In another post on X After this story was published, SpaceX said on Tuesday, “there may be a typo in a table” in the application that was submitted to the TCEQ and made public. The company said its app is being updated to correct typos regarding mercury levels.

A TCEQ spokesperson told CNBC in an email Tuesday afternoon that there is “pending enforcement action” on the matter and that the agency “cannot comment further at this time.”

CNBC reached out to the FAA on Friday. The agency did not comment for this story, but announced Monday that it is postponing public meetings planned for this week. The meetings were for an environmental assessment of “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 did not explain the reason for the postponements and said new dates will be announced in the future.

This article was originally published in NBCNews. with