SpaceX Refutes Claims of Environmental Violations at Starbase, Cites Compliance with Regulations

SpaceX has refuted CNBC's allegations that its Starbase facility in Texas has repeatedly polluted local waters, asserting that its launch operations fully comply with environmental regulations. The company emphasized its collaboration with regulatory bodies and potable water use in its operations.

SpaceX Denies CNBC’s Allegations of Texas Water Pollution, Cites Compliance with Environmental Regulations

SpaceX has responded to a critical report from CNBC that alleges that it has repeatedly polluted waters in Texas this year. According to the private space corporation, the publication's allegations regarding its launch operations in South Texas were factually inaccurate.

CNBC claimed in its report that SpaceX violated environmental regulations by "repeatedly releasing pollutants into or near bodies of water in Texas." The publication utilized a notice of violation from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) regarding SpaceX's water inundation system at Starbase, Texas, as one of its sources for the article.

On August 2023, the TCEQ reportedly received a complaint alleging that SpaceX was "discharging deluge water without TCEQ authorization." According to the publication, the Harlingen region has received 14 complaints regarding the environmental consequences of Starbase's inundation system.

In its official account on X, SpaceX disclosed that it collaborated with the TCEQ during the construction of Starbase's water inundation system and clarified that it has exclusively employed potable water in Starship's water discharge system operations.

SpaceX Refutes CNBC’s Claims, Highlights Environmental Compliance and Safe Operation of Starship’s Deluge System

SpaceX's comprehensive response to CNBC's allegations is provided below.

The information provided by CNBC regarding Starship's launch operations in South Texas needs to be factually corrected.

Starship’s water-cooled flame deflector system is critical for SpaceX’s launch operations. It ensures flight safety and protects the launch site and surrounding area.

Also known as the deluge system, it applies clean, potable (drinking) water to the engine exhaust during static fire tests and launches to absorb the heat and vibration from the rocket engines' firing. Similar equipment has long been used at launch sites across the United States—such as Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Stations in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California—and across the globe.

SpaceX worked with the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ) throughout building and testing the water deluge system at Starbase to identify a permit approach. TCEQ personnel were onsite at Starbase to observe the initial tests of the system in July 2023, and TCEQ’s website shows that the Texas Multi-Sector General Permit covers SpaceX.

When the EPA issued its Administrative Order in March 2024, it did so without understanding the basic facts of the deluge system’s operation or acknowledging that we were operating under the Texas Multi-Sector General Permit.

After we explained our operation to the EPA, they revised their position and allowed us to continue operating. However, they required us to obtain an Individual Permit from TCEQ, allowing us to expand deluge operations to the second pad. We’ve been diligently working on the permit with TCEQ, which was submitted on July 1st, 2024. TCEQ will issue the draft Individual Permit and Agreed Compliance Order this week.

Throughout our ongoing coordination with TCEQ and the EPA, we have explicitly asked if the deluge system needed to stop operating, and we were informed that operations could continue.

TCEQ and the EPA have allowed continued operations because the deluge system has always complied with common conditions set by an Individual Permit and does not harm the environment.

Specifically:

– We only use potable (drinking) water in the system’s operation. At no time during the operation of the deluge system is the potable water used in an industrial process, nor is the water exposed to industrial processes before or during the system's operation.

– The launch pad area is power-washed before activating the deluge system, with the power-washed water collected and hauled off

– The rocket’s engines vaporize most of the water each operation uses.

– We send soil, air, and water samples around the pad to an independent, accredited laboratory after every use of the deluge system, which has consistently shown negligible traces of any contaminants. Notably, while CNBC’s story claims there are “very large exceedances of the mercury” as part of the wastewater discharged at the site, all samples to date have shown either no detectable levels of mercury whatsoever or found, in very few cases levels significantly below the limit the EPA maintains for drinking water.

– Retention ponds capture excess water and are specially lined to prevent mixing with local groundwater. Any water captured in these ponds, including water from rainfall events, is pumped out and hauled off.

– Finally, some water leaves the pad area, mostly from water released prior to ignition and after engine shutdown or launch. To give you an idea of how much, a single use of the deluge system results in potable water equivalent to a rainfall of 0.004 inches across the area outside the pad, which averages around 27 inches of rain per year.

With Starship, we’re revolutionizing humanity’s ability to access space with a fully reusable rocket that plays an integral role in multiple national priorities, including returning humans to the surface of the Moon. SpaceX and its thousands of employees work tirelessly to ensure the United States remains the world’s leader in space, and we remain committed to working with our local and federal partners to be good stewards of the environment.