The FAA is providing a go-ahead to the SpaceX facility that harms wildlife

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that SpaceX could advance the proposed Starship Super Heavy Project in Boca Chica, Texas – a facility the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) has been concerned about for the past two years, including through a recent petition generating more than 30,000 signatures from concerned. citizens.

“We are disappointed with this decision, but Elon Musk and his team certainly do not want to harm endangered species. We hope that the SpaceX team will see that life here on Earth deserves more considering and agreeing to minimizing the impacts on the Boca Chica facility, ”said Mike Parr, ABC President.

The federal and state public lands surrounding the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica are used by hundreds of thousands of individual birds of many different species throughout the year. Migratory birds such as Yellow-billed Cuckoos and Golden-winged Warblers pass by each spring and fall to rest and refuel. Species that breed in the area, such as the Reddish Egret and Wilson’s Plover, are already nesting in adjacent conservation areas.

ABC is extremely concerned about the impacts of the facility on the wildlife habitat that supports these birds, as well as on species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), including the federally endangered Piping Plover and Red Knot, and the endangered Northern Applied Falcon.

SpaceX’s operations in Boca Chica have changed significantly since the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the site was published by the FAA in 2014. For example, the 2014 EIS did not mention the natural gas facility that is now under construction to extract and deliver of fuel at the site. SpaceX has continued with this infrastructure, despite the fact that it has not been approved by the FAA.

“SpaceX has shown blatant disregard for Boca Chica’s natural habitats. The area here is not just vacant space for fuselage debris and garbage, ”said EJ Williams, ABC Vice President for the Southeast Region.

Since 2014, rocket debris, fire, and construction activities have damaged federal and state public lands surrounding the Boca Chica site. Increased traffic on State Highway 4 has led to wildlife deaths, with carcasses of Snowy Plover, Common Nighthawk, Harris’s Hawk, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, and Eastern Meadowlark found over the past two years. All of these species have been designated as Birds of Conservation Concern by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A new Environmental Impact Statement is guaranteed to take into account the ongoing major changes since the original 2014 EIS. However, the FAA instead released a draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) last fall – a faster, less comprehensive environmental review. The PEA does not fully address environmental, habitat, or wildlife concerns, nor does it outline alternatives the public should consider during the comment period that closed in November 2021.

The final PEA was originally planned to be released by the end of December 2021, but the date was delayed several times. The FAA said these delays were caused, in part, by the need to review more than 17,000 comments submitted publicly – most of which were submitted as a result of ABC outreach efforts. This year, ABC also collected 30,000 signatures on a petition asking the FAA to conduct a full-scale environmental review (an EIS), which was delivered to SpaceX’s media team.

Meanwhile, damage to local wildlife continues. Piping Plovers winter in the habitat surrounding the Boca Chica SpaceX facility. According to a review by Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries Programthe Piping Plover population in the Boca Chica region dropped 54 percent in 3 years (2018-2021) when SpaceX set up testing operations and began launching rockets-indicating declining habitat health of the bird.

“Research strongly supports that human disturbance negatively affects birds,” said Richard Gibbons, ABC’s Gulf Conservation Program Manager. “If someone too close to a bird can cause stress and reduce survival, it’s worth considering the negative impact of rocket testing, launching, and explosions on protected and declining species. this. “

In addition to endangered and endangered birds, the area surrounding the Boca Chica SpaceX site provides sensitive habitat for other wildlife listed under the ESA – including the ocelot and several sea turtle species (Kemp’s Ridley, Hawksbill, Leatherback, Loggerhead, and Green). This habitat has been recognized by the Environmental Protection Agency as an aquatic resource of national importance (ARNI). It is also home to some of the nation’s most diverse communities of wind-tidal flat, mid-delta thhorn forest, and mid-valley riparian woodlands.

“Boca Chica is incredibly important to birds,” Williams said. “Conservationists and wildlife agencies have worked for decades to preserve the unique wetlands and thorny habitats that surround the SpaceX facility. It’s critical to ensure that impacts on these natural resources are minimized and minimized.”

Thanks to the American Bird Conservancy for providing this news.