Given that the program involves launching "the largest rockets known to human kind," it should have been subject to a thorough environmental analysis, the lawsuit argues. Instead, the FAA conducted a much less stringent assessment and concluded there wouldn't be a significant environmental impact to allowing SpaceX to run the Starship program. The lawsuit says that the FAA needed to conduct a so-called environmental impact statement as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. They say that the FAA failed to conduct an in-depth environmental review before allowing SpaceX to launch its Starship program, which is hoped to send people and cargo to the moon and one day, Mars. The lawsuit was filed by five groups including the Center for Biological Diversity and the American Bird Conservancy. "But to the best of our knowledge, there has not been any meaningful damage to the environment that we’re aware of." 'Dumping ground' "It did scatter a lot of dust," he said on a Twitter Spaces event. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though Musk said the scattered debris "was not toxic at all," comparing it to a "human-made sandstorm." SpaceX's Starship rocket exploded minutes after takeoff on its first test flight on April 20, crashing into the Gulf of Mexico, blowing up the company's launch pad, hurling chunks of metal and concrete into a national wildlife refuge and sending particulate matter miles from the launch pad in Boca Chica, Texas.įAA spokesman Steve Kulm said that the agency "does not comment on ongoing litigation matters." "We must decide whether we will protect the wildlife and frontline communities that can be adversely affected by our desire to reach the stars, or whether we will leave a legacy of needless destruction in the scorching wake of rocket plumes." "It is also about whether regulators will hold powerful corporations accountable or allow them to disregard environmental laws," the lawsuit continues. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Monday, says the case boils down to "a question with national, global, and even interstellar implications." Watch Video: SpaceX Starship explosion sparks FAA lawsuit from environmental groupĮnvironmental groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration over the explosion of SpaceX's massive new rocket, saying that the agency allowed Elon Musk's company to bypass important environmental reviews because of political and financial influence.
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