Environmental Groups Sue FAA Over SpaceX Texas Launches

The FAA failed to comply "with bedrock federal law" when it didn't analyze the environmental and community impacts of SpaceX's space launch activities in Boca Chica, Texas, and didn't require mitigation to offset those impacts, environmental groups and a Native American tribe told a federal court Monday as they sought to force the agency to do an environmental impact statement (EIS). The FAA didn't comment. In docket 1:23-cv-01204 before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs said the lands ringing SpaceX"s Boca Chica launch facility "are of extraordinary conservation value" and SpaceX activities there will adversely affect the wildlife habitat there. It said launch activities necessitate frequent closure of nearby Boca Chica Beach, which is sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas and which is used by others for recreation and subsistence fishing. They said the programmatic environmental assessment the FAA did undertake is not as thorough as an EIS. Suing are the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Surfrider Foundation, Save RGV and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation. The suit repeatedly references the April explosion at Boca Chica of a SpaceX Super Heavy test launch (see 2304200037).