EPA to NASA: We intend to regulate how you dispose ISS, and that’s only the start
The EPA and its supporters to the American space industry:
“Nice industry you got here. Sure would be a shame if
something happened to it.”
It appears the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a number of activist groups are now lobbying for the right to regulate whether anything in orbit can be de-orbited into the oceans, beginning with how NASA plans to dispose of the International Space Station (ISS) when the station is de-orbited into the ocean sometime before 2030.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is evaluating how the disposal of the International Space Station into the ocean will need to be regulated but has not shared the details of any specific concerns or aspects of regulation. “EPA’s Office of Water is coordinating with the Office of General Counsel on this complex issue. The agency does not have a timeline for this evaluation,” EPA spokeswoman Dominique Joseph told SpaceNews.
“Sixty-six years of space activities has resulted in tens of thousands of tons of space debris crashing into the oceans,” said Ewan Wright, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia and a junior fellow of the Outer Space Institute, an interdisciplinary group of experts working on emerging space sustainability issues.
While Wright is later quoted as saying that disposal in the ocean is “the least worst option,” the article at the link includes quotes from several other academics, all claiming that such an option must be stopped at all costs, because it threatens to “cause great damage” to the ocean. These “experts” make this claim by comparing ISS’s de-orbit with the dumping of old ammunition from World War I as well as plastic forks now.
George Leonard, chief scientist of the Ocean Conservancy — a Washington, D.C.-based group dedicated to protecting the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges — … compared NASA’s plan to dumping single-use plastics in the ocean: it renders the pollution out of sight and out of mind. “For many, this has meant that the ocean has been a convenient dumping ground for everything from tires to old ships to barrels of radioactive waste, and of course, space junk,” Leonard said. “The debate over the disposal of the International Space Station underlies the fact that humans often fail to plan for the end-of-life of the stuff we produce,” he said, “and the ISS and a plastic fork aren’t so different.”
Leonard said that the ocean suffers every time we put pollution into it. “Space debris being left in our ocean is nothing new, but it’s a problem that we know will only grow in the future. There’s no easy solution, but we cannot ignore the long-term consequences that inevitably come from adding waste — whether it be single-use plastics or space junk — into our ocean,” Leonard said.
Leonard and the EPA are clearly implying that they must be allowed to block any further space activities if those activities will require disposal in the ocean. And if that power is granted it will essentially block American space exploration for good.
This story essentially predicts what is going to happen if Kamala Harris wins the election. If Trump wins he will at a minimum resume his policy from 2016-2020 of blocking new regulations from the administrative state. He will also for certain resume his aggressive neutering of EPA in particular.
If Harris wins however this article tells us the precise goals of the EPA and these activists. They want the power to dictate what missions can and cannot go into space. And it is likely Harris will give that power to them. And if you think the problems SpaceX is presently having getting launch licenses from the FAA is bad, if this power is granted to EPA and its leftist minions you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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The EPA and its supporters to the American space industry:
“Nice industry you got here. Sure would be a shame if
something happened to it.”
It appears the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a number of activist groups are now lobbying for the right to regulate whether anything in orbit can be de-orbited into the oceans, beginning with how NASA plans to dispose of the International Space Station (ISS) when the station is de-orbited into the ocean sometime before 2030.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is evaluating how the disposal of the International Space Station into the ocean will need to be regulated but has not shared the details of any specific concerns or aspects of regulation. “EPA’s Office of Water is coordinating with the Office of General Counsel on this complex issue. The agency does not have a timeline for this evaluation,” EPA spokeswoman Dominique Joseph told SpaceNews.
“Sixty-six years of space activities has resulted in tens of thousands of tons of space debris crashing into the oceans,” said Ewan Wright, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of British Columbia and a junior fellow of the Outer Space Institute, an interdisciplinary group of experts working on emerging space sustainability issues.
While Wright is later quoted as saying that disposal in the ocean is “the least worst option,” the article at the link includes quotes from several other academics, all claiming that such an option must be stopped at all costs, because it threatens to “cause great damage” to the ocean. These “experts” make this claim by comparing ISS’s de-orbit with the dumping of old ammunition from World War I as well as plastic forks now.
George Leonard, chief scientist of the Ocean Conservancy — a Washington, D.C.-based group dedicated to protecting the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges — … compared NASA’s plan to dumping single-use plastics in the ocean: it renders the pollution out of sight and out of mind. “For many, this has meant that the ocean has been a convenient dumping ground for everything from tires to old ships to barrels of radioactive waste, and of course, space junk,” Leonard said. “The debate over the disposal of the International Space Station underlies the fact that humans often fail to plan for the end-of-life of the stuff we produce,” he said, “and the ISS and a plastic fork aren’t so different.”
Leonard said that the ocean suffers every time we put pollution into it. “Space debris being left in our ocean is nothing new, but it’s a problem that we know will only grow in the future. There’s no easy solution, but we cannot ignore the long-term consequences that inevitably come from adding waste — whether it be single-use plastics or space junk — into our ocean,” Leonard said.
Leonard and the EPA are clearly implying that they must be allowed to block any further space activities if those activities will require disposal in the ocean. And if that power is granted it will essentially block American space exploration for good.
This story essentially predicts what is going to happen if Kamala Harris wins the election. If Trump wins he will at a minimum resume his policy from 2016-2020 of blocking new regulations from the administrative state. He will also for certain resume his aggressive neutering of EPA in particular.
If Harris wins however this article tells us the precise goals of the EPA and these activists. They want the power to dictate what missions can and cannot go into space. And it is likely Harris will give that power to them. And if you think the problems SpaceX is presently having getting launch licenses from the FAA is bad, if this power is granted to EPA and its leftist minions you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I wonder how many tonnes of shipping have been sunk over the last few thousand years? Are you going to require permission from the EPA to have a ship sink under you?
SpaceX will fix this problem with re-usability and the ability to boost any junk into any orbit you like. Will ULA or anyone else be allowed to launch single use rockets?
I guess you could also use the middle of Western Australia as a disposal site. There isn’t much there.
Couldn’t they consider offering it up for salvage before crashing it into the ocean? There are a lot of metals worth salvaging.
Not all ocean disposal is terrible. Scuttling ships to serve as new substrate for reefs has occurred for decades. The debris may be serving as a stable platform for ocean life to take root that would otherwise not gain a foothold in some areas.
And what are the options?
1. Controlled crash to earth and to a fairly specific place in the ocean.
OR
2. Crash to someplace on the earth.
One way or the other the space station will be deorbiting. No?
Cotour: Reread my essay. The goal here is not to stop ISS from getting dumped in the ocean, but to set a precedent that these thugs have the right to decide what shall be done in the future, with the ultimate goal to forbid any defunct spacecraft from being de-orbited over Earth at all, which translates into never letting them launch at all.
It is a power play, pure and simple. I am surprised you of all people didn’t see that. :)
This is essentially writing new law, which will be instantly reversed under this year’s Loper v Raimondo. EPA is making it up as they go along. OTOH, I can see somewhere down the line a new statutory regime based on mining law that requires those who fly things in space to remove them from space. This doesn’t mean I like it a whole lot, but this does tend to normalize space and may eventually be a positive. How these clowns are gonna apply stuff deorbiting worldwide to US law is going to be a real stretch. Cheers –
Outsource this to another country – donate the ISS to the Russians and left them handle it. They actually have experience, having done it in the past.
”Outsource this to another country – donate the ISS to the Russians and left them handle it.”
1) Yes, I’m sure that if the USA unilaterally “donated” the ISS to Russia after it had been stripped, safed, and abandoned that Russia would be all over spending the hundreds of millions of dollars to responsibly deorbit the ISS in a safe manner. Because the Russians are all about safety and responsibility.
2) Deorbiting the ISS was originally a Russian responsibility in the first place. The reason the USA took it over is because no one believes the Russians could or would do the task responsibly.
I guess you could also use the middle of Western Australia as a disposal site. There isn’t much there.
What have to got against a few kangaroo and alot of sheep?
How about using the Washington Monument as a target, with bonus points if Congress is in session.
(Oops, is that “inciting violence”?)
“It is a power play, pure and simple. I am surprised you of all people didn’t see that. :)”
I thought it was implied :)
On the same theme: I also remembering a while ago proposing that Elon would be forced to propose that his EV auto production and all of those “savings” in carbon footprint for the world would justify his SpaceX aspirations and all of that other massive carbon footprint launching 1000 rockets a year and would trade one against the other like trading Carbon credits.
How many millions of EV’s counter 1000 launches?
Stay tuned on that.
The only real solution? Anti-gravity technology!
Or second choice, space elevator.
“What have to got against a few kangaroo and a lot of sheep?”
There might be a few kangaroos but no sheep. Not much to eat.
Most of inland Australia, is only good for keeping the coasts apart, strip mining, storage of radioactive waste and de-orbiting spacecraft.
Somebody call the FCC, FAA, and Fish & Game – the EPA is one-upping them.
I guess it’s all that plutonium, bioengineered plague, liquid mercury, magic smoke, computer viruses, hypergolic fuels, etc. etc the EPA is concerned about.
I mean really, ISS stuff can’t be that worse than the solar panels, batteries, and wind turbine blades they force on us.
Does SpaceX have the de-orbiting precision to drop the ISS on the EPA headquarters in D.C.?
Won’t someone please think of the phytoplankton!
John C … Sheldon J Plankton, and his wife Karen, approve your message!
Nothing like bureaucratic turf wars, paid for with our tax dollars, at the further expense of our ability to advance our civilization.
The ISS is 420 metric tons.
The amount of interplanetary dust coming in per year onto Earth is 5200 metric tons +- 1500.
So, once the EPA grabs all those offensive dust particles, then we can talk about the tiny ISS problem.
My God! Why has the EPA not cleaned up the solar system properly!
I’m surprised that SMOD hasn’t put in a stronger showing in this election!
I am used to seeing SMUG over California but now you can see the clouds of it over DC.
Don’t burn up the international space station.
What a waste that would be after billions spent to create it.
I still think Elon should purchase it, renovate the leaking parts, add a few blowup modules for vacationers or rent out the space to private companies for freefall science experiments. Hollywood is not done with it yet either.
Push it to a higher orbit were Elon‘s refueling station for Mars will be, he can house the construction crew for the permanent installation there and use the solar panels to recharge their equipment, tesla taxis and robots.
Eventually it’ll become a world heritage site as a tourist attraction attached to the anchor on the future space elevator.
I agree with you Max
To be honest it is discouraging to read comments here stating this will be fixed with reusable rockets or comparing it to space dust etc. All these arguments accept the core premise that it is a problem. The outcome of this acceptance will be the margin at which civilization loses. This game has been well honed by CAGW crowd, who are like corrupt accountants who only make decisions based on one side of the cost/benefit analysis.
Drop that sucker right on the EPAs office building.
“and the ISS and a plastic fork aren’t so different.”
Hoo boy, does that imply some absurdity on your part, Mr Leonard.
if that power is granted it will essentially block American space exploration for good.
Yep. As intended.
Now, having said that, I wouldn’t mind seeing more effort put into a law that says “If you’re gonna put it up there, you have to have a plan to deal with it properly at EOL.” (Meaning, something more than “Well, gravity will eventually bring it back.”)
I know it’s a lot more energy, but I still think we should push it higher so it can be taken to the moon* or cannibalized for making other stuff in orbit. Heck, just put a small nuke on board and drive it out to the path of an asteroid, just to see how the asteroid reacts. Or, build a space dump truck and go up and bring it back in a usable form. But you’ve already got it partway up there, do something useful with it. Don’t just drop it back to Earth in an unusable state.
Max
October 11, 2024 at 5:46 pm
Except for the space elevator idea, I concur. You spent all that energy to get it partway up the gravity well, why simply waste that energy to let it fall back down said well.
J Fincannon
October 11, 2024 at 6:42 am
My God! Why has the EPA not cleaned up the solar system properly!
I think it has to do with living wages and not enough immigrants. They can’t hire the maids needed.
Mike W.:
Thanks for pointing that out; the minute you accept your opponent’s framing of reality, is the moment you lost.
Hold a vote and let Americans decide if all de-orbited junk be landed inside the District of Columbia. I’d vote for that.