SpaceX’s Starship launches at the company’s Starbase facility near Boca Chica, Texas, have allegedly been contaminating local bodies of water with mercury for years. The news arrives in an exclusive CNBCreport on August 12, which cites internal documents and communications between local Texas regulators and the Environmental Protection Agency.

SpaceX’s fourth Starship test launch in June was its most successful so far—but the world’s largest and most powerful rocket ever built continues to wreak havoc on nearby Texas communities, wildlife, and ecosystems. But after repeated admonishments, reviews, and ignored requests, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) have had enough.

  • Flying Squid
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    129 days ago

    When people praise SpaceX, the company, it bothers me.

    When people praise an engineer at SpaceX that does something cool, I am happy for the engineer.

    Again- saying I hate Starbucks doesn’t mean I hate the baristas who work there. Saying I hate Exxon doesn’t mean I hate an oil rig worker who’s just trying to make money to feed their family.

    And sticking just with Musk-owned companies, saying I hate Tesla doesn’t mean I hate some random Tesla employee I’ve never heard of.

    I’m really not sure why I have to explain this to you.

    • @[email protected]
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      29 days ago

      When people praise SpaceX, the company, it bothers me.

      When people praise an engineer at SpaceX that does something cool, I am happy for the engineer.

      I’m really not sure why I have to explain this to you.

      You don’t have to explain either of those things to me, you can just answer the question I asked:

      K, so when people praise SpaceX’s engineers for designing unprecedented machines that do things that no one has ever seen before, that doesn’t bother you?

      i.e. when people praise SpaceX’s rockets and launches, does that bother you? Is that praising the company or praising the engineer in your mind?

      At the end of the day what the company does is an output of the workers. When people praise what SpaceX does they are praising the workers, unless you view the company as just the CEO, in which case you’re falling into the folly of hero worship.

      • Flying Squid
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        029 days ago

        This is some real “corporations are people” bullshit.

        • @[email protected]
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          29 days ago

          No, that is referring to the idea of a corporation having legal rights the way that a person does. That is not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about the output of a corporation. Is the output of a corporation the result of the CEO or of a bunch of workers?

          • Flying Squid
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            29 days ago

            See, the fun thing here is that I’ve answered the question you keep rephrasing multiple times the same way. You just don’t like my answer because it goes against your whole claim that this has something to do with Elon Musk.

            And you are doing everything you can to defend a company which is destroying the ozone layer.

            • @[email protected]
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              128 days ago

              You literally have not answered the question.

              When people praise what SpaceX does, does that bother you?

              Simple question, answer it, not questions that you insert.

              • Flying Squid
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                -128 days ago

                I, once again, have no idea why this has to be spelled out for you, but of course it bothers me when people praise a corporation that is destroying the ozone layer.

                Similarly, it would bother me if someone praised Shell Oil or Nestle.

                Why is it so hard for you to understand that SpaceX is destroying the ozone layer and that is a bad thing?

                • @[email protected]
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                  28 days ago

                  I, once again, have no idea why this has to be spelled out for you, but of course it bothers me when people praise a corporation that is destroying the ozone layer.

                  OK so when people praise SpaceX for destroying the ozone layer, which is totally a real thing that people praise them for, that bothers you.

                  But you’re ok with it when people praise SpaceX for creating reusable rockets that are more environmentally friendly than single use rockets?

                  Or no, people should shit on them for creating reusable rockets because something something musk makes you angry?

                  End of the day you think that because SpaceX is a Musk owned company, praise for what SpaceX does is praise for Musk, whereas people who don’t engage in hero worship view it as praise for the hardworking engineers who actually did those things.

                  And stop bringing up the ozone issue, we’ve been over this. Yes, it’s an issue that was literally just discovered and reported on, usually once you discover an issue you give people time to address it. That’s what happens when people try to do new things that have never been done before. If they ignore the issue and keep destroying the ozone layer then they will be the world destroying villains that you want them so badly to be.

                  • Flying Squid
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                    -228 days ago

                    Got it. And when Exxon ends up heating the world beyond 2 degrees C, then we can criticize them. Until then, criticizing Exxon means criticizing every secretary in their branch office in Des Moines.