The South Texas launch facility is being built by the company to support the development of its massive, super-powerful Starship rocket. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, populations of snowy and piping plovers have already dropped near the existing SpaceX site. Boca Chica may have been hurting wildlife by hosting failed launches.
CNBC obtained and published the findings from a FWS draft letter submitted to the FAA. The document mentioned that the expansion could have negative environmental impacts on multiple sea turtle species and other shorebirds.
According to the draft document, SpaceX will have to monitor and manage the harm its operations at Boca Chica are causing wildlife. The steps necessary for environmental approval as laid out in the letter are small for a company like SpaceX. It does seem like low-hanging fruit to have to inform the FWS in the event of an extinction, as well as having to implement noise and light monitoring.
The piping plovers are listed as a federally threatened species. The western population and sub-species of snowy plovers are listed as threatened.
The piping plover's overwintering numbers fell by more than half over the course of a year. The FWS reviewed recent surveys and research done in the area. The letter signed by Charles Ardizzone, a supervisor for the Texas Coastal Ecological Services Field Office, explained that the downward trend is significant and continuous and may indicate Boca Chica is becoming a population sink.
It's not clear what happened to the plovers, but if the loss of half the Boca Chica population is the result of the activities of SpaceX, then the entire critical habitat is being impacted. There are possibilities for what happened to the birds, including direct death from explosions and tests, chronic injury from the heat, pressure, and debris of launch tests, or habitat loss.
The losses do appear to represent a real loss in the entire population and it is not likely the birds simply went somewhere else.
The population of snow plovers also declined significantly, according to the results of two other species of plover.
The proposed expansion to Boca Chica could make these impacts worse. Adding to the site could hurt red knots, as well as multiple species of sea turtles on account of noise, heat, vibration, and light that come along with construction and operating a launch site, according to the FWS letter.
The Boca Chica launch site is located in dunes, marsh, tidal flats, and other sensitive habitat. Adding launch and landing pads, parking lots, integration towers, and other infrastructure is what the company is planning to build out on 17 acres of mudflat and wetlands. The expansion needs approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers because it involves wetlands. In March, the Army Corps suspended the application for approval due to insufficient information from SpaceX. Should the company want to restart the process, it needs to give the required information.
According to a report by Texas Public Radio, the FAA environmental assessment has already been delayed five times, and that's because of the Army Corps approval. The FAA assessment release date was moved from April 29 to May 31.
The letter from Fish and Wildlife is being considered by the FAA as part of the assessment. It could take years to complete the process if the FAA assessment concludes that a full-scale environmental impact statement is needed.
In February, Musk said he was considering moving the operations of his company from Texas to Florida, as well as transitioning Boca Chica to a research and development site. The outcome of the FAA review could make that a reality.
To minimize potential impacts to listed species and critical habitat units, the draft letter explained. The terms and plans might not be enough.
According to CNBC, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity reviewed the Fish and Wildlife letter and found that it could be good news for the company.
The Fish and Wildlife is asking SpaceX to make relatively few adjustments and very low financial investment to address its concerns, even though it poses serious possible harm to wildlife. Many of its requests are recommendations.
Neither the U.S. Fish and Wildlife nor the company responded to the requests for comment.
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