By ALEXANDREA BAILEY
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife [TPW] the first time SpaceX launched its Starship on April 20, 2023, a wildfire sparked, subsequently burning 3.5 acres of TPW owned parkland to the south of the pad. Afterwards, SpaceX implemented a water deluge system, “to protect against the immense heat & force of Starship launch,” according to CEO Elon Musk, who announced the innovation via his social media platform X on July 28, 2023.
The Texas Commission of Environmental Quality [TCEQ] approved SpaceX’s industrial wastewater permit application during a meeting in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 13, 2025. On Feb. 20, 2025, TCEQ announced the commission’s decision to grant SpaceX a permit, allowing the discharge of “treated wastewater” into South Bay.
Texas Parks and Wildlife describes South Bay as one of Texas’s many gems. The State of Texas designated it as a coastal preserve in 1989. According to TPW, it is the southernmost bay in Texas, consisting of approximately 3,500 surface acres. Sandwiched between the riparian edge of the Rio Grande and the Brownsville Ship Channel, it neighbors Brazos Island. According to TPW, two rare natural communities exist within South Bay: the Texas Palmetto Series, an evergreen subtropical woodland or forest, and the Texas Ebony-Snake-eyes Series, a subtropical evergreen shrubland existing on lomas. Teeming with life, according to TPW South Bay is home to 41 species of finfish and nine different species of shellfish and holds the largest eastern oyster population south of Aransas Bay.
SpaceX officials describe the water its system utilizes as “literal drinking water.” However, environmental concerns have been raised regarding the release of this wastewater into the bay, including captains’ worries about how it will affect the fisheries. According to UTRGV Professor of Marine Biology Hudson DeYoe, a crucial impact will be felt by the area’s seagrass, a source of nutrition and shelter for marine wildlife.
“The relatively pristine nature and great recreational fishery of South Bay are at risk,” said DeYoe.
DeYoe says that a key element to predicting the discharge’s impact on the bay is knowing how long water discharged into South Bay stays in the bay until it’s flushed out by tides or rainfall. According to DeYoe, this is currently unknown.
“Two features of the wastewater could have substantial impact on the bay-plant nutrients and organic matter. Plant nutrients are good for plants including seagrass, mangroves and seaweed, as long as the concentrations are not excessive. If excessive, the seagrass could be adversely affected due to shading caused by phytoplankton (microalgae in the water), rafts of seaweed that cover seagrass and seagrass epiphytes (small algae and invertebrates that live on seagrass leaves),” stated DeYoe. “Organic matter, when it is decomposed by bacteria, can significantly reduce the amount of oxygen in the water. If the oxygen level is low enough, fish will go somewhere else and marine invertebrates like crabs that can’t move very far very fast could die.”
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