SAVERGV'S URGENT CALL TO FIGHT DUMPING 200,000 GALLONS OF SPACEX WASTEWATER A DAY INTO ECO-FRAGILE SOUTH BAY

By SAVERGV

URGENT CALL TO ACTION! | DEADLINE: OCT 28, 2023 

Comments Needed ASAP to Demand SpaceX Not Be Granted A Permit To Dump 200,000 Gallons a Day of Treated Wastewater Into South Bay!!

Submit a Comment: https://www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/
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: https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:2aa42e91-a43b-4beb-940d-3c7fb507bd65
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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.
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Want to do something? Here is what you can you do:

Submit a comment opposing this permit based on any or all of the following. Feel free to add your own reasons as well:

Constant foul odors affecting downwind cities of Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights, Los Fresnos, Bayview, San Roman, Port Isabel, Long Island Village and South Padre Island, due to our 15-18 mph prevailing Southeast winds, will directly blow to these areas; permanent and irreparable harm to marine life and wildlife, impacts on the salinity of South Bay and the entire Lower Laguna Madre, detriment to the recreational and commercial fishing industry, degradation of the entire ecosystem that supports South Bay, impacts to livelihoods that are dependent on fishing, impacts to recreation and human health due to changes in the water quality, contamination of aquatic life, and depletion of essential fish habitats.

View sample script here: https://www.savergv.org/_files/ugd/d1db5d_c5087eccd6034b8ab28f543ab634886f.pdf

Request a public meeting. It is important that we get as many folks as possible asking TCEQ to hold a public meeting on this permit. Let’s put the pressure on NOW!

Ask our elected officials to request a public meeting from TCEQ on our behalf. Contact them by phone and email. Please do both. Website and contact information is below.
View sample email and phone script to elected officials before you begin here: https://www.savergv.org/_files/ugd/d1db5d_9d8f538dcbbb435185eb29e30578307c.pdf

Sen Morgan LaMantia, District 27
https://senate.texas.gov/member.php?d=27

Rep. Oscar Longoria, District 35
https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=35

Rep. Janie Lopez, District 37
https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=37

Rep. Erin Gamez, District 38
https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=38

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

**FROM TCEQ REGARDING THE COMMENT PROCESS: All public comments and requests must be submitted either electronically at https://www14.tceq.texas.gov/epic/eComment/, or in writing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of the Chief Clerk, MC-105, P.O. Box 13087, Austin, Texas 78711-3087. Please use Permit NO. WQ0016342001 when commenting electronically and/or in writing. Please be aware that any contact information you provide, including your name, phone number, email address, and physical address will become part of the agency's public record. For more information about this permit application or the permitting process, please call the TCEQ Public Education Program, Toll Free, at 1-800-687-4040 or visit their website at www.tceq.texas.gov/goto/pep.
Si desea información en Español, puede llamar al 1-800-687-4040.

If you need assistance or have questions, please email contact@savergv.org

For more information visit: https://www.savergv.org/spacex