A South Texas environmental group is dropping a lawsuit that alleged SpaceX illegally polluted the water around its Starbase launch site near Brownsville.
Save RGV said in a two-page brief filed on Tuesday that it was voluntarily dismissing the case against Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded by tech billionaire Elon Musk. One of the group’s lawyers, Lauren Ice, confirmed the dismissal but did not immediately explain why the decision was being made now.
“Plaintiff Save RGV has decided to drop the claims for now, but could decide to bring the claims again in the future (subject to other limitations that may exist at that time, of course, like statute of limitations),” Ice told The Texas Newsroom in an email.
There was a hearing in the case set for mid-April.
Save RGV, which bills itself as a group of concerned local citizens, sued SpaceX last year for allegedly polluting the waters at Boca Chica Beach. They asked a federal judge to force SpaceX to come into compliance or face fines.
SpaceX argued it was acting within the law and its permits, and said Save RGV did not prove they would suffer “irreparable harm” if the launches did not stop.
EPA fined SpaceX last year for violating the Clean Water Act at the site.
Save RGV board member Jim Chapman said they dropped the lawsuit because the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the state’s environmental agency, granted SpaceX a permit that “moots” their lawsuit.
“We think we’re right,” Chapman said in a phone interview. “We just didn't feel like [the lawsuit] was going to move in a positive direction for us.”
Chapman added that Save RGV is still fighting a SpaceX request to be able to dump 200,000 gallons of treated wastewater to go into the bay every day.
Save RGV and a number of other groups also filed another lawsuit in state court against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality regarding SpaceX. The case is still pending, according to online court records.