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Excerpt from www.popsci.com
SpaceX’s Starship launches at the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, have allegedly been contaminating local bodies of water with mercury for years. The news arrives in an exclusive CNBC report on August 12, which cites internal documents and communications between local Texas regulators and the Environmental Protection Agency.
SpaceX’s fourth Starship test launch in June was its most successful so far—but the world’s largest and most powerful rocket ever built continues to wreak havoc on nearby Texas communities, wildlife, and ecosystems. And after repeated admonishments, reviews, and ignored requests, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have had enough.
The issues stem from a complaint filed to the TCEQ just over a year ago on August 6, 2023. The letter reportedly cited 14 separate incidents regarding “environmental impacts from the Facility’s deluge system” stemming from “discharging deluge water without TCEQ authorization.”
