The EPA will fine SpaceX for Violating the Clean Water Act. Write to support that decision!

How to submit your comment:

Email: Click here to email Regional Hearing Clerk (6ORC), vaughn.lorena@epa.gov

Cite Docket Number CWA-06-2024-1768

Sample Text:

I support the fine that the EPA has imposed on SpaceX for violating the Clean Water Act. I have grave concerns about the ecological damage already caused by SpaceX launches in what is supposed to be a protected wetland area.  It is clear that environmental regulations have not been closely followed by SpaceX in the past and I am writing to express concern that the amount of severe damage will increase with future Starship and Super Heavy launches, landings, and tests.  I hope that you will continue to hold SpaceX accountable for any violations of US environmental regulations.

More on the campaign here: https://www.epa.gov/tx/proposed-administrative-penalty-order-against-space-explorations-technologies-corp-spacex-clean

Additional information about SpaceX-caused environmental damage

SpaceX has already caused severe environmental damage at their launch site in Boca Chica, Texas by not following US environmental laws and common rocket launch safety practices, just with their test launches since 2019.  Extensive ecological damage and severe impacts to endangered wetlands, as well as impacts to local residents, have been documented, such as bowling-ball sized concrete slabs hitting parked cars and igniting a 3.5 acre fire.  SpaceX wants to increase their Starship/Super Heavy launch cadence from 5 to 25 launches per year, as well as increase rocket testing on site. 

In January, SpaceX requested to purchase 43 protected acres in Boca Chica State Park. In return, they would gift 477 acres of a completely different part of Texas, near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, to Texas Parks and Wildlife. This proposed trade caused local uproar and a lawsuit, as just a year prior Texans had already approved a $1 billion state park fund that had plans to acquire the same 477 acres–  without giving any land away to SpaceX in a trade, or competing with them to purchase the same land. 

In addition to the environmental impacts to the areas immediately surrounding the launch site, future Starship/Super Heavy launches also have the potential to negatively impact global climate and the ozone layer. Frequent large rocket launches will release massive amounts of water vapor, nitrogen oxides and soot into the upper atmosphere. Soot will absorb solar radiation and increase stratospheric temperatures, leading to unknown effects on atmospheric chemistry, including the potential to increase the rate of ozone depletion. The release of nitrogen oxides (NOx) might also contribute to ozone depletion, while  water vapor can act like a greenhouse gas, and increase the incidence of polar stratospheric clouds, which provide surfaces for ozone depleting reactions. Finally, rocket launches and the reentry of rocket bodies also punch “holes” into Earth’s ionosphere, leading to bright auroral glows in the sky and disrupting the transmission of radio and GPS signals.