(CN) — A coalition of environmental groups filed a lawsuit Monday against the Federal Aviation Administration for failing to fully analyze and mitigate the environmental harms resulting from the SpaceX Starship launch program in Boca Chica, Texas.
"This case concerns whether the nation's commitment to preserving our critical wildlife habitat and treasured coastal landscapes must be sacrificed as we reach out to explore the cosmos — a question with national, global and even interstellar implications," wrote attorney Eric Glitzenstein.
"It is also about whether regulators will hold powerful corporations accountable or allow them to disregard environmental laws simply because of their political and financial influence."
The lawsuit was filed in the D.C. federal district court by the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Surfrider Foundation, Save RGV and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc.
In June, an environmental assessment by the Federal Aviation Administration concluded that SpaceX’s plans for orbital launches would have “no significant impact” on the region along the Gulf Coast, permitting them to launch 20 Starship/Super Heavy Rockets each year over the next five years.
The first rocket launch exploded just minutes after takeoff on April 20, showering the surrounding area with dust and large pieces of debris outside of the area the agency had previously considered in its assessment.
Monday's lawsuit claims that the FAA proposed "inadequate" mitigation measures that fail to fully address the environmental harm that results from the explosions and the intense heat, noise and light of these launches.
The SpaceX facility sits in the middle of a national wildlife refuge, two state parks, a state Wildlife Management Area, and a state Coastal Preserve, which are critical habitats for several federally protected species, including imperiled migratory birds and sea turtles.
It's also next to a public beach, which is expected to be closed up to 800 hours per year to accommodate the facility's activities with little or no notice of when.
For the critically endangered Kemp's sea turtle, the Boca Chica tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge is one of the only places they can come ashore and nest on refuge beaches during the spring and summer.
The environmental groups warn that light from the launch site could cause the nesting females to "false crawl or hatchlings to become disoriented," reducing nesting success and their chances for survival.
Critical coastal habitats designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for other species on the verge of extinction such as the petite, Piping Plover bird and the striking, spotted ocelot wild cat have been overlapped by the launch site, according to the lawsuit. Not only can these animals be killed from the heat plume created by engine ignition during launches, but the resulting noise can displace them from their designated habitats as well.
Wildfires are another poised threat from launch explosions, the groups argue. While the FAA acknowledged an "anomaly" as the greatest risk to the environment from SpaceX activities, they note that "there have been several fires attributable" to such anomalies that burned several acres of coastal prairie and dune habitats on protected lands.
As the world's most powerful rocket, the Super Heavy booster holds up to 3,700 metric tons of liquid methane — a potent greenhouse gas that would be routinely vented into the atmosphere, the environmental groups warn.
“The administration’s failure to fully analyze the dangers of a rocket test launch and manufacturing facility mere steps from the Lower Rio Grande National Wildlife Refuge and two state parks is an astonishingly bad decision,” said Mary Angela Branch, a Save RGV board member. “So many threatened and endangered species are counting on the agency to get this right.”
A spokesperson for the FAA said that the agency does not comment on pending litigation.
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