Credit: Trevor Mahlmann for SpaceNews
Several organizations have filed a new complaint about the environmental impacts of SpaceX Starship launches even as government agencies face criticism for delaying such launches for environmental reviews.
Several environmental groups announced Dec. 15 that they had filed a supplemental legal claim in federal court regarding licensing of Starship launches from SpaceX’s Starbase site near Brownsville, Texas. Those organizations initially filed suit against the Federal Aviation Administration in May, shortly after the first Starship launch April 20.
In the supplemental complaint, the groups — Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc., Save RGV and Surfrider Foundation — allege the FAA failed to properly analyze the environmental impacts of the first Starship launch before issuing a revised license for the second launch that took place Nov. 18.
That new licensing process included an environmental review by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) regarding a pad deluge system that SpaceX installed on the pad to prevent damage like that the pad suffered during the first launch. The FWS concluded that the deluge system would produce no significant environmental changes.
The environmental groups argue that both FAA and FWS fell short of what was required under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to review the environmental impacts of Starship launches. The FAA, it stated in the complaint, “once again failed to take the requisite ‘hard look’ at the impacts of the Starship/Superheavy launch program through a supplemental NEPA analysis.”
FWS, it added, “likewise failed to fully analyze the impacts of the April 20 launch and the potential for further harm to listed species from subsequent launches.” The FWS review, it stated, focused only on the deluge system and not on the environmental effects of the debris from the April launch. The deluge system was intended to prevent the creation of such debris and appeared to be successful, based on the lack of damage to the pad after the second launch.
“Failing to do an in-depth environmental review and letting SpaceX keep launching the world’s largest rockets that repeatedly explode shows a shocking disregard for wildlife and communities,” Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement about the new complaint. “SpaceX should not be given free rein to use this amazing area as a sacrifice zone.”
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The FAA is overseeing a SpaceX-led investigation into the second Starship launch Nov. 18. Both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage were destroyed during the flight, with Super Heavy exploding shortly after stage separation and the flight termination system on Starship triggered near the end of the powered phase of flight. Neither SpaceX nor the FAA have provided technical updates on the status of that investigation, including what caused the destruction of both vehicles.
“We’re moving ahead pretty well” on that investigation, Coleman said in an interview after the Dec. 13 hearing. That investigation is occurring in parallel with the application for a license modification needed for the third Starship test flight.
“I don’t suspect there will be any major surprises” with the investigation, he said. “The investigation is going well as progressing as expected.”
See here for the background. The story notes that Ted Cruz was complaining in a hearing that the FAA and other agencies were doing too much and thus slowing down the launch of these rockets, so draw your own conclusions. As things now stand, the next launch will likely happen in early 2024. Bring some protective headgear if you plan to attend, that’s my advice. The Current has more.