SpaceX sued by environmental groups, again, claiming rockets harm critical Texas bird habitats

SpaceX is facing more scrutiny from environmental groups that are concerned about harm to critical habitats near rocket launches.

Several environmental groups announced Friday a new complaint about the environmental impacts of SpaceX Starship launches from Starbase, the company's facility in far southern Texas, SpaceNews reported. In the complaint, the groups allege the Federal Aviation Administration failed to properly review the environmental impacts of the first Starship launch before issuing a revised license for the second launch that took place Nov. 18. 

“Failing to do an in-depth environmental review and letting SpaceX keep launching the world’s largest rockets that repeatedly explode shows a shocking disregard for wildlife and communities,” Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement to SpaceNews about the new complaint. “SpaceX should not be given free rein to use this amazing area as a sacrifice zone.”

The groups — Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc., Save RGV and Surfrider Foundation —  first filed suit against the FAA  in May, with SpaceX later joining as a co-defendant, after the first Starship launch April 20.  The environmental groups argued that the agency allowed Elon Musk's company to bypass important environmental reviews because of political and financial influence. SpaceX is owned by Elon Musk. Starship's first test ended with an explosion about four minutes after launch on April 20.

SpaceX spectators damaged habitats, reports say

The lawsuit comes as SpaceX officials are targeting late Sunday night for the next weather-delayed Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 will deploy a batch of Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit. 

According to recent reporting by the Houston Chronicle, the second launch of SpaceX’s rocket on Nov. 18 drew hundreds of spectators who damaged local habitats that are crucial to shorebirds in Boca Chica and took decades and decades to build.  

"SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site is surrounded by state parks and national wildlife refuge lands and important habitat for imperiled wildlife, including piping plovers, northern aplomado falcons, Gulf Coast jaguarundi, ocelots and the critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtle," the statement from The Center for Biological Diversity read.

According to the Chronicle, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it was the public that caused the main environmental effects observed in tidal flats south of the launch pad and that it was working with SpaceX “to educate the public on the importance of tidal flat habitat.”

SpaceX's $3 billion NASA contract

Under a $3 billion contract with NASA, a Starship lunar lander will be developed to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon's surface as early as 2025. Starship will also be used for missions to Mars in the next decade.

At a Dec. 13 Senate Commerce Committee hearing by the space subcommittee, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said the agency has been in talks with some environmental regulatory agencies to discuss the “critical nature of the Artemis program and how important its success is to the nation,” SpaceNews reported. 

Melroy, responding to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), said she was working “closely” with those agencies to make sure they are “aware.”

More:Starship test launch, take 2: Musk's SpaceX rocket explodes after reaching space

Contributing: Amanda Lee Myers, George Petras, Jennifer Borresen, Stephen J. Beard