A South Texas environmental group has stopped a lawsuit alleging SpaceX was illegally contaminated around a Starbase launch site near Brownsville.
In a two-page summary filed Tuesday, Save RGV said it was voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit against Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Lauren Ice, one of the group’s lawyers, confirmed his fire but did not immediately explain why the decision was being made.
“Plaintiff Save RGV has decided to withdraw the claim for now, but has been able to decide to file the claim again in the future (of course, it is obviously as a limitation as it is. It is subject to other possible restrictions),” Ice told Texas. Newsroom by email.
There was a hearing in a case set in mid-April.
Save RGV, which claims itself as a group of local citizens involved, sued SpaceX last year, allegedly polluting waters at Boca Chica Beach. They asked a federal judge to force SpaceX to comply or fine them.
SpaceX claims it is acting within the law and its permission, saying that Save RGV has not proven that it will suffer “irreparable harm” if the launch does not stop.
The EPA fined SpaceX last year, and fined it on the site for violating the Clean Water Act.
Jim Chapman, a board member of the Save RGV, said the lawsuit was dropped after the state’s environmental agency, the Texas Environmental Quality Commission, granted SpaceX permission to “move” the lawsuit.
“I think we’re right,” Chapman said in a phone interview. “We didn’t think (litigation) (litigation) would move in a positive direction for us.”
Chapman added that Save RGV is fighting SpaceX requests so that 200,000 gallons of treated wastewater can be dumped daily.
SAVE RGV and many other groups also filed separate lawsuits in state court against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality in relation to SpaceX. Online court records show that the case is pending.
