Elon Musk's SpaceX is changing the approach to space travel, turning it into a commercial venture. Unfortunately, like many businesses, SpaceX has expanded far past its original scope with little regard for the damage done to its surroundings. The New York Times reports that SpaceX's launches have done incredible damage to the critical wetlands around the launch site.
What's happening?
According to the Times, SpaceX's property near Boca Chica, Texas, is significantly smaller than other space centers. This appears to have been intentional, as Musk made inquiries about the surrounding state and federal land.
According to a statement by Musk during a 2018 news conference, "We've got a lot of land with nobody around and so if it blows up, it's cool." Debris was expected to land in the area, and SpaceX officials even nicknamed the small property "the doughnut hole."
Sure enough, various SpaceX launches have sent shock waves and scattered debris throughout the area and started fires that burned state and federal land.
The problems were exacerbated by the original deliberate choice on Musk's part to not build a flame diverter, trench, or water deluge system on the launch pad, measures which help contain the explosive force of a launch.
Worse, SpaceX received permission for operations on a limited scale and expanded it to a much larger scale.
"They kept saying, 'No, we are not going to do that, we are not going to do that,' and then they came back and said, 'Yes, we are,'" Mark Spier, then the top local official for the National Park Service, told the Times. "We were being misled."
June's launch of the Starship sent mud, stones, sheet metal, insulation, and debris flying across nearby land. In addition, the blast ignited a small fire, and all nine of the bird nests that were there pre-launch were disturbed.
According to the Times, a Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Program wildlife biologist, Justin LeClaire, told an inspector: "The nests have all been messed up or have eggs missing." While that may not sound overly concerning against the scale of a rocket launch or in comparison to more seriously environmentally damaging projects around the world, what the Times report suggests is that much of the damage would be avoidable with the safety provisions and risky practices that the company has led officials to believe it would undertake or avoid, respectively.
Why is this overstepping by SpaceX important?
The damage to local property from these launches has been heavily documented — whether it's dust clouds, shock waves, fires, or even flying concrete. In addition, SpaceX has cut off access to state and federal land for long stretches of time, much longer than it promised.
But beyond that, the area is a protected bird habitat, home to endangered bird species; and it's a nesting ground for the world's most endangered species of sea turtle, the Kemp's ridley sea turtle. A team from SpaceX, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and a conservation group inspected the area after a June launch and found incredible damage to birds' nests, with eggs smeared on the ground.
What's being done about the damage?
Federal agencies charged with protecting the environment, including the Department of the Interior's FWS and NPS, have repeatedly pushed for greater restrictions on SpaceX's activities. However, so far, they've been overruled by the Federal Aviation Administration.
For this latest incident from June, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened an investigation into the damaged nest eggs, and spokesperson Aubry Buzek said the agency and SpaceX will try to work together to achieve compliance with the Endangered Species Act in order to "reduce impacts to wildlife and public lands."
To help ensure companies do comply, folks can vote for politicians who are committed to upholding laws to protect vital ecosystems and wildlife while educating themselves on how to identify a company engaging in greenwashing.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
