SpaceX

Permit No. WQ0016342001 

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., (SPACEX) has applied for a Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) permit from The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to dump 200,000 GALLONS of treated wastewater a day into our precious South Bay!  South Bay is the southernmost end of the Laguna Madre. Lined with black mangroves, it is hypersaline, extremely shallow, and a richly productive nursery for fish, shellfish (including oysters), crustaceans and birds. It was deemed so ecologically important that it was named the first Texas Coastal Preserve in 1984. It is fragile and irreplaceable.

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You may have heard about this on Christian Von Preysing’s brief coverage of this on October 2, 2023 on KRGV:  https://www.krgv.com/news/spacex-proposal-aims-to-dump-treated-wastewater-into-the-bay?fbclid=IwAR0_rDu-1XVpe0VQZ8jAOeHBaEkVvyEEtuSJ9VbmA1C3TsVmMJ5QNYrdKzo

This TCEQ permit application, No. WQ0016342001 (EPA I.D. No. TX0144533,) if granted, will authorize SpaceX to discharge an average daily flow of 200,000 gallons into South Bay.  Treated wastewater is treated sewage, grease, industrial and gray water. In essence, this will be all of SpaceX’s dirty water from the houses, townhouses, restaurants, bars, bathrooms, port-o-potties, and more!  This discharge of treated wastewater will first require a treatment plant, much like what you see in municipalities, where raw, black sewage is captured, treated then released.  SpaceX wants to build this treatment plant approximately 1000 feet west of the intersection of Boca Chica Blvd. (State Hwy 4) and Remedios Lane, in Cameron County, TX  78521.  The discharge route will be from this plant into tidal flats leading into South Bay. To dump treated sewage onto tidal flats (which are sometimes dry) would be a travesty!   They should keep trucking their sewage to Brownsville’s sewage treatment facilities. Here’s where SpaceX wants to put their treatment plant. https://gisweb.tceq.texas.gov/LocationMapper/?marker=-97.19051,25.98448&level=18

Remember when the County abandoned Remedios and Joanna Roads to SpaceX?  The County Commissioners voted to  give this multi- billion dollar corporation, rich with government (taxpayer) contracts, free land to keep building and polluting.  They have impacted so much already.  They need to leave South Bay alone!

To view the TCEQ NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF APPLICATION AND INTENT TO OBTAIN WATER QUALITY PERMIT From SpaceX Click HERE.  

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*You will need the permit number WQ0016342001 for your correspondence and phone calls to elected officials and for commenting on TCEQ.