A lot of people have that sense now. I didn’t even get into the howling typos in the report!

Problem is, what if this bogus nerfed story actually *did* cause the FAA to cancel these meetings – and thus push back the whole regulatory timeline? Jeff Foust at SN has a story about this today, but he confines himself to observing that it “coincides” with the TCEQ development. The connection is still unclear. But it’s more lawfare FUD SpaceX has to deal with now.

https://spacenews.com/faa-postpones-hearings-on-starship-environmental-review/

I had no expectation of what you would do with this stuff. You’re doing a great job, Bob. Keep up the great work.

Richard M: I was thinking of posting about this TCEQ complaint, but based on all the facts at the various links you provide in this thread, I think it can be summed up entirely as a hit job by CNBC, miscontruing the complaint as something bigger than it is, as part of the propaganda press’s effort to squash Musk.

I expect this particular issue will fade away with no consequences. As to the FAA environmental assessment, that is going to linger I think for many months, and is likely going to prevent any increase in the launch rate at Boca Chica for years, if not forever.

Between mine and Richard M’s links it looks like the EPA thinks that mercury is ablating off of the rocket engines and contaminating the water Space X uses for its deluge system.

All Space X has to do is prove they do not use Mercury in its engine construction. Wait any use of mercury in industry has to be reported to the EPA already.

Though the methane may contain mercury. If that methane comes from the general utility company there might a far bigger and wider problem than just at Space x.

https://www2.tceq.texas.gov/oce/waci/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.complaint&incid=425155

Again, it is unclear as of yet whether the TCEQ complaint is related to the FAA cancelling this week’s public meeting, but there is obviouslt quite a lot of speculation on social media today that they must be related,

“Several hours ago I asked the FAA why they canceled the public meetings. I just asked again and explictly asked it’s bc of the CNBC story.
Their reply is: “The FAA is seeking additional information from SpaceX before rescheduling the public meetings.””

https://x.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1823121510225379405

Is this info request related to the TCEQ development? I have no idea. Stay tuned.

https://www.tceq.texas.gov/downloads/permitting/wastewater/title-iv/tpdes/wq0005462000-spaceexplorationtechnologiescorp-starbaselaunchpadsite-cameron-tpdes-adminpackage.pdf

I shamelessly cribbed much of this from StraumliBlight at the NSF forums, who deserves credit for the hard online spadework.

1. From CNBC: “Elon Musk’s SpaceX violated environmental regulations in releasing pollutants into or nearby bodies of water in Texas, a state environmental agency said in a notice last week. The report from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) came five months after the Environmental Protection Agency also notified SpaceX that it had violated the Clean Water Act. The violations could threaten SpaceX’s ambitions to increase Startship launches from its Starbase facility in South Texas.”

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/12/spacex-repeatedly-polluted-waters-in-texas-tceq-epa-found.html

2. In an unusual move, SpaceX responds with a statement on Twitter/X, and swiftly at that. Statement in full:

____________
CNBC’s story on Starship’s launch operations in South Texas is factually inaccurate.

Starship’s water-cooled flame deflector system is critical equipment 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 the build and test of 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 SpaceX is covered by the Texas Multi-Sector General Permit.

When the EPA issued their Administrative Order in March 2024, it was done without an understanding of basic facts of the deluge system’s operation or acknowledgement 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, but required us to obtain an Individual Permit from TCEQ, which will also allow 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 is expected to issue the draft Individual Permit and Agreed Compliance Order this week.

Throughout our ongoing coordination with both TCEQ and the EPA, we have explicitly asked if operation of the deluge system needed to stop 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 causes no harm to 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 operation of the system.

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

– The vast majority of the water used in each operation is vaporized by the rocket’s engines.

– We send samples of the soil, air, and water around the pad to an independent, accredited laboratory after every use of the deluge system, which have consistently shown negligible traces of any contaminants. Importantly, 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 in fact 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 any mixing with local groundwater. Any water captured in these ponds, including water from rainfall events, is pumped out and hauled off.

– Finally, some water does leave the area of the pad, 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 currently 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.

https://x.com/spacex/status/1823080774012481862?s=46

3. Here’s the active TCEQ case for SpaceX, last updated on August 8th (input “WQ0005462000” into the “TCEQ ID Number:” field).

https://www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eCID/index.cfm?fuseaction=main.reportResults&requesttimeout=9000

Milt: What Rand got wrong in Atlas Shrugged was portraying the boycott of qualified people as voluntary and a victory. Instead, in the real world of communist and socialist tyranny such people get squashed, and it is an utter defeat when it happens, especially if the good people give up and stop fighting.

For Musk to do what you suggest would be a total victory for the Democrats. All they care about is destroying him. Having the entire space effort and the American military fail would simply be icing on the cake, as the left has opposed both for decades.

Similarly, it would be nice to see a real strike by long haul truckers, thereby letting the out of touch Powers That Be in Washington know what “reality” looks like. I don’t think that they would care much for it, though. They sure didn’t in Canada.