TCEQ Hears Residents Oppose SpaceX Water Discharge Permit – Rio Grande Guardian

BROWNSVILLE, Texas – A recent public hearing held by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding a water discharge permit by SpaceX drew nothing but criticism from the public.

The meeting is a prelude to another hearing set for Nov. 14 on SpaceX seeking a different permit to dump about 200,000 gallons a day of treated sewage into the South Bay, one of the South’s best and most popular spots of Texas for fishing enthusiasts, kayakers. and navigators

Each of the 30 of the 100 people who attended the Oct. 17 hearing asked TCEQ representatives led by water quality expert Michael Sunderlin to deny the permit based on various claims. They said it would be detrimental to that region of the country.

No one spoke in favor of SpaceX’s plan.

Some of those who attended alleged that SpaceX has been polluting the air, the land where endangered seabirds live with pipe chlortret and now the waters.

Others, like Jim Chapman, an environmentalist with Save RGV, asked the TECQ panel why SpaceX continues to operate when the company is in violation of the Texas Clean Water Act.

The Oct. 17 meeting dealt with a permit that SpaceX has applied for to allow the company to discharge stormwater, facility washout and stormwater on an intermittent, variable-flow basis through two outfalls.

Flood water is used for launch and return activities to the launch site.

At the meeting, held in the gym at the Brownsville Sports Complex, residents expressed shock after hearing from a TCEQ panelist that harsh and harmful chemicals such as copper and mercury are being detected and released from the SpaceX site.

At the Nov. 14 event, scheduled at Amigoland Events Center at 1010 Mexico Boulevard in Brownsville, TCEQ will hold a public hearing on an application by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, “to authorize the dumping of daily treated household waste .average of 200,000 gallons per day” from Rocket Road to Boca Chica.

TECQ’s statement further states that “treated wastewater will be discharged directly into South Bay in Bays and Estuaries Segment #2493,” which is designated as “primary contact recreation and exceptional use of aquatic life and waters of oysters”.

A review has preliminarily determined that significant degradation of water quality in the South Bay is not expected, TCEQ said.

But those used to frequenting the bay don’t buy it.

Tony Reisinger, a veteran marine biologist who now lives in Port Isabel and attended the Oct. 17 meeting, said there are other alternatives to dumping sewage.

“It could flow directly into the Rio Grande,” he said, “not into the South Bay, a shallow area with high salinity.”

Reisinger said he enjoys watching the rocket launches, but added that he also worries about the evaporation from each liftoff.

Some of those in attendance said the water would end up in the Gulf of Mexico and open up into the South Bay during prevailing southeast winds and incoming tides.

Fishing guide Ernest Cisneros said he’s noticed the water in South Bay has gotten murkier every time he goes there.

The TCEQ panel made no decision at the meeting, but said it will send a written response to all commenters and anyone on the TCEQ mailing list.