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 CNBCreport 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. But after repeated admonishments, reviews, and ignored requests, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have had enough.
TECQ stops him about as much as a stick stops a bulldozer.
The first, and so far, only fine they’ve issued for his violations at his Boring Co / Space X site outside of Austin, amounted to a little under $12,000. This is after at least 13 violations that include water contamination, runoff and erosion, and air quality violations.
He hates them the same way one hates a fly.