Texas commission rejects anti-SpaceX calls to deny company its Starship deluge water permit
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality this week strongly and finally dismissed the repeated demands by various fringe activist groups to shut down SpaceX’s launch operations at Boca Chica and the use of the deluge system designed to protect the launchpad and the Superheavy booster.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Thursday denied requests from a dozen area residents and several groups to reconsider the commercial space company’s permit to dump as much as 358,000 gallons of water into wetlands during tests and launches of its Starship rocket from its Starbase east of Brownsville.
Commission Chair Brooke Paup introduced the item as “quite a big deal,” then quickly moved to deny additional hearings on the subject and issue the permit. She said concerns raised by individuals and groups including Save RGV, the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas failed to identify “new factual information or an error that would alter the executive director’s decision.
“The hearing requesters did not show that their ability to practice their religion or engage in recreational activities will be affected in a manner different than the general public,” Paup said.
The commission admitted in its ruling that there had been numerous technical errors by both the commission and SpaceX when it initially approved the permit, but none of those errors were significant.
It appears this particular effort by a very tiny minority of leftist anti-Musk activists has finally been shut down. We can only hope that these groups will now fade away, not because they want to give up but because their funding could be gone. I suspect their money came from somewhere within the fraudulent grant programs at EPA and other federal agencies that DOGE has now identified and shut down.
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Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
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The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality this week strongly and finally dismissed the repeated demands by various fringe activist groups to shut down SpaceX’s launch operations at Boca Chica and the use of the deluge system designed to protect the launchpad and the Superheavy booster.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality on Thursday denied requests from a dozen area residents and several groups to reconsider the commercial space company’s permit to dump as much as 358,000 gallons of water into wetlands during tests and launches of its Starship rocket from its Starbase east of Brownsville.
Commission Chair Brooke Paup introduced the item as “quite a big deal,” then quickly moved to deny additional hearings on the subject and issue the permit. She said concerns raised by individuals and groups including Save RGV, the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas failed to identify “new factual information or an error that would alter the executive director’s decision.
“The hearing requesters did not show that their ability to practice their religion or engage in recreational activities will be affected in a manner different than the general public,” Paup said.
The commission admitted in its ruling that there had been numerous technical errors by both the commission and SpaceX when it initially approved the permit, but none of those errors were significant.
It appears this particular effort by a very tiny minority of leftist anti-Musk activists has finally been shut down. We can only hope that these groups will now fade away, not because they want to give up but because their funding could be gone. I suspect their money came from somewhere within the fraudulent grant programs at EPA and other federal agencies that DOGE has now identified and shut down.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
It is good that the luddites got a good belt in the mouth—but if there is any truth to these stories—victories like today’s won’t be what’s remembered
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/1iqbtaa/weve_been_betrayed_local_veterans_angry_after/
https://www.reddit.com/r/nottheonion/comments/1iqgjnr/us_government_struggles_to_rehire_nuclear_safety/
The second is worrisome—because Perry looked to do something similar.
I know—it’s Reddit.
These were bad faith requests, which the commission thankfully treated as being in bad faith.
But as for the funding, I wouldn’t rest easy yet. There’s plenty of dark money out there that doesn’t trace directly back to federal agencies. And these fanatics won’t give up so long as there’s any resources to be had – and maybe, even if there aren’t. Hating Elon and all of his ventures is what gives some of them meaning in their lives.
Totally unrelated, but is anyone else having problems with viewing comments here?
I’m not sure what is occurring here Bob, but to see the full thread of comments I am having to switch between browsers.. my primary browser is chrome, but even tho a thread might say “13 comments” , I view the thread and only see the last 2 or 3 I viewed previously. This problem is not browser specific, I’m also using duckduckgo and brave, and they have the same issue….
Very annoying when I have the time to interact with any replies to my comments!
Lee S: The comment issue has been brought up numerous times. I thought Shane had fixed it, but even if he hasn’t, we have found that all you need to do is to refresh your browser and the comments all appear.
If this doesn’t work. please email me with the following information:
1) exact page on the website that you are experiencing this issue. That means the actual blog post page itself.
2) Does this happen every single time?
3) exactly what OS are you using
4) exactly what web browser and version are you using.
5) cache settings in your web browser. Is it set to fetch a fresh page each time or is it set to cache?
Without that information my web guy can do nothing to fix anything.
Richard M, it’s tough for a liberal to grow up and turn into a conservative. (Ask me how I know—although I bet it’s happened to others who post here.) Old friends abandon you. Elon’s getting world-historical amounts of that right now; has been since the Twitter buy. And thankfully he does not care!
Lee S, click into the specific story for which you wish to view comments then refresh.
I’ve wondered if disappearing comments might be releated to me using a VPN. I’ve noticed if I post a comment set to a Canadian location as I am in this comment, it and the following comments don’t show up for me in certain browsers.
James Street: I once again ask you and all my readers to document the following information when you see comments disappear or missing and passing it on to me. Adding on whether you are using a VPN would also be helpful.
1) exact page on the website that you are experiencing this issue. That means the actual blog post page itself.
2) Does this happen every single time?
3) exactly what OS are you using
4) exactly what web browser and version are you using.
5) cache settings in your web browser. Is it set to fetch a fresh page each time or is it set to cache?
Without that information my web guy can do nothing to fix anything.
Interesting: I have found that you may not see your last post if you have posted from a laptop, but you will see it if you go to BTB on your phone / mobile.
And the anomaly does not seem to be so on every BTB story panel.
Cotour: Your laptop is simply not refreshing the page when you go to it. It is instead using the browser cache, stored from the last visit. You need to change a setting in the browser to refresh automatically, or manually refresh every time you come to the page on your laptop.
Ok Bob…. I have always tried refreshing, and it rarely works…. I will do a bit of nonsense posting on this thread and report my results….
Makes sense, will take me 2 years to find it :)
I had/have this issue all time. It is browser caching.
Clearing it has resolved it every time for me.
Jeff, it is not just that you linked Reddit. You linked /r/politics?? They are a step away from Mao’s henchman.
The VA related Reddit link is just a link to a story out of a local Atlanta news channel. By not linking directly you bury this:
“The agency finds, based on your performance, that you have not demonstrated that your further employment at the agency would be in the public interest.”
So a probationary employees with poor performance are upset that they were let go. I should be surprised?
Statement from the VA:
https://news.va.gov/press-room/va-dismisses-more-than-1000-employees/
1000 out of 400,000+ Nation wide.
The VA is a mess, and needs scrutiny.
The cynic in me also sees a danger. The left was piping money through State Department foreign aid/USAID because they could hide it. It was buried deep in the bureaucracy.
What better place to hide money schemes than a sacred cow like the VA. No politician would dare dig into it.
I hope I am wrong, But if I am not wrong, I cannot imagine what it will do to the veteran community.
Testing testing 123