May 4—Are Elon Musk's rockets blowing up all the birds?
It's a question the Federal Aviation Administration ( FAA) will have to answer as regulators evaluate the billionaire's proposed expansions at Starbase—SpaceX's rocket production and testing facility in Boca Chica, Texas. Musk's company has sought to build out its footprint at the south Texas campus to facilitate future launches of its Super Heavy lift-launch vehicle.
Federal approval on said expansion, however, depends on the facility passing a number of regulatory evaluations and benchmarks, including an environmental impact survey that has raised questions about the effects of rocket testing and increased human presence on local wildlife in the area.
According to documents obtained by CNBC through a Freedom of Information Act request, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) noted a marked reduction in the population of several species of endangered birds in the area during its evaluation of Starbase's influence on local ecosystems. The FWS stated around half of the preexisting number of piping plovers— a small, sand-colored shorebird— had vanished since the arrival of SpaceX in the area.
"It is not clear what happened to the 'missing' plovers, but if SpaceX activities have resulted in the loss of over half the Boca Chica population then the entire critical habitat is being impacted," the FWS wrote in a draft opinion to the FAA.
Possibilities behind the plover's mass disappearance include rocket explosions, habitat reductions from burning rocket debris, loud noise and general encroachment upon the species' native lands, according to FWS.
The delay in receiving approval for his proposed Boca Chica expansion has led Musk to consider shifting some of Starbase's operations to Florida.
"We don't have a ton of insight into where things stand with the FAA," Musk said in February.
The billionaire's proposed expansion calls for the construction of a new launchpad and landing pad as well as a gas power plant and solar panel fields. On Friday the FAA delayed the publication of its final Programmatic Environmental Assessment for SpaceX's Starship/Super Heavy project to May 31.
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