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This is what dirty politics looks like. This! Irrespective of how you personally feel about Musk, consider that this is targeting a company with thousands of e

This is what dirty politics looks like. This! Irrespective of how you personally feel about Musk, consider that this is targeting a company with thousands of employees run by… its CEO Glenn Shotwell, not Musk. SpaceX is terrifying to the competition: both dinosaurs like ULA, and also newcomers like Blue Origin. The article states: “In total, the Harlingen region received 14 complaints alleging environmental impacts from the Facility’s deluge system.” Umm… what!? Fourteen? Fourteen locals were wading through the local mud within spitting distance of the launch towers taking what… water samples? It’s tap water! If it has mercury in it then the real article should be about mercury in the tap water! “I have a complaint to make! Yes I would like to remain anonymous, but you can call me… umm… Beff Jezos. Yes, I’m personally and financially affected by SpaceX activities and would like to file a complaint.” The popsci article was definitely written by an anti-Musk hack. I seriously wouldn’t surprised if he took a bribe to write a “hit piece”, because if he didn’t he’s doing dirty work for billionaires for free. We shouldn’t reach for the stars, unless every local office of everything is fully satisfied that all of the paperwork is filed. Speaking of which: “Neither regulator answered CNBC’s questions regarding SpaceX’s statement.” You don’t talk about corruption to the media. It’s shameful what they’re doing, otherwise they’d be happy to clarify the issue to the public.

snypher 2y ago
>were wading through the local mud ... It’s tap water! If it has mercury in it then the real article should be about mercury in the tap water! On this point, if I have pesticide on my boots and rinse them with potable water, that water now has pesticide in it. Also, that local mud is also known as a wildlife habitat, so yes, we shouldn't be adding mercury to it. Also, we can't just throw away Earth for the sake of 'reaching for the stars'. Right now SpaceX is a cell tower installation business, nothing more. I'm not concerned what Elon's "stated goals" are.
- jiggawatts 2y ago
  At no point did the article make any verified claim about anything in the water other than H2O. The title is fiction. SpaceX almost certainly uses zero mercury in their rockets, and if they do use tiny amounts, it’ll be a in the electronics and not getting washed into the water in appreciable amounts. The fuel is natural gas and oxygen. Where’s the mercury coming from!?
  - formlessentity 2y ago
    All hydrocarbon fuels have mercury and it needs to be scrubbed at the refineries.
    - jiggawatts 2y ago
      And you're saying that every single natural gas user is individually held up in their projects, like cooking dinner, because of this? Or just SpaceX, an end-user of natural gas, not a refiner of it.
  - ath3nd 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - ripjaygn 2y ago
      Let me explain it to you. > 2. There is mercury in the water dumped by the facility, detected by the agency that is supposed to be detecting this. The issue is that you're taking a hitpiece written by someone that appears to hate Musk for political reasons(based on her other blog articles) as truth. Published by CNBC who has hated Tesla and Musk since forever because they mean fewer profits for legacy car companies and big oil. The source of confusion is a typo in the document which overstated mercury concentration by a factor of thousand, the rest is exaggeration and fiction pushed all over the news cycle and Reddit. Does falling for misinformation in this day and age enrage you or outrage you? Does it make you wonder what else you're falling for? Or will you just get defensive and keep arguing fiction? This correction won't reach the vast majority of people who saw the headline who will continue to believe falsehoods about SpaceX. So mission accomplished for the "reporter" and CNBC. This is just sad. Would it blow your mind to learn that similar fake news was employed by reputable news outlets like AP News on the Tesla Swedish union strike story where multiple news outlets claimed(and still do) that all 120 Tesla mechanics "walked off the job" when only about 35 did and the rest refused to participate in the strike?
      - ath3nd 2y ago
foobarqux 2y ago
This is the most basic environmental law there is (don't dump toxins into the river), it's fantasy to construe that as a political hit job.
- jiggawatts 2y ago
  What toxins? What do you mean by "dumping"? It is tap water.
  - foobarqux 2y ago
    I answered this in other comments: First tap water is potentially illegal to dump on its own, for example because of fluorine/chlorine (heated water is also potentially illegal to dump). Second it is not tap water it is water that has gone through an industrial process, which can add toxins to the water. Third, you need to go through the permitting process before dumping to show that the water is in fact not contaminated because you can't unscramble an egg. You don't get to say "trust me bro", for good reason.
lern_too_spel 2y ago
A company run by Shotwell at the pleasure of its voting shareholders, with 78% of those votes cast by Musk.

snypher 2y ago

>were wading through the local mud ... It’s tap water! If it has mercury in it then the real article should be about mercury in the tap water! On this point, if I have pesticide on my boots and rinse them with potable water, that water now has pesticide in it. Also, that local mud is also known as a wildlife habitat, so yes, we shouldn't be adding mercury to it. Also, we can't just throw away Earth for the sake of 'reaching for the stars'. Right now SpaceX is a cell tower installation business, nothing more. I'm not concerned what Elon's "stated goals" are.

jiggawatts 2y ago
At no point did the article make any verified claim about anything in the water other than H2O. The title is fiction. SpaceX almost certainly uses zero mercury in their rockets, and if they do use tiny amounts, it’ll be a in the electronics and not getting washed into the water in appreciable amounts. The fuel is natural gas and oxygen. Where’s the mercury coming from!?
- formlessentity 2y ago
  All hydrocarbon fuels have mercury and it needs to be scrubbed at the refineries.
  - jiggawatts 2y ago
    And you're saying that every single natural gas user is individually held up in their projects, like cooking dinner, because of this? Or just SpaceX, an end-user of natural gas, not a refiner of it.
- ath3nd 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - ripjaygn 2y ago
    Let me explain it to you. > 2. There is mercury in the water dumped by the facility, detected by the agency that is supposed to be detecting this. The issue is that you're taking a hitpiece written by someone that appears to hate Musk for political reasons(based on her other blog articles) as truth. Published by CNBC who has hated Tesla and Musk since forever because they mean fewer profits for legacy car companies and big oil. The source of confusion is a typo in the document which overstated mercury concentration by a factor of thousand, the rest is exaggeration and fiction pushed all over the news cycle and Reddit. Does falling for misinformation in this day and age enrage you or outrage you? Does it make you wonder what else you're falling for? Or will you just get defensive and keep arguing fiction? This correction won't reach the vast majority of people who saw the headline who will continue to believe falsehoods about SpaceX. So mission accomplished for the "reporter" and CNBC. This is just sad. Would it blow your mind to learn that similar fake news was employed by reputable news outlets like AP News on the Tesla Swedish union strike story where multiple news outlets claimed(and still do) that all 120 Tesla mechanics "walked off the job" when only about 35 did and the rest refused to participate in the strike?
    - ath3nd 2y ago

foobarqux 2y ago

This is the most basic environmental law there is (don't dump toxins into the river), it's fantasy to construe that as a political hit job.

jiggawatts 2y ago
What toxins? What do you mean by "dumping"? It is tap water.
- foobarqux 2y ago
  I answered this in other comments: First tap water is potentially illegal to dump on its own, for example because of fluorine/chlorine (heated water is also potentially illegal to dump). Second it is not tap water it is water that has gone through an industrial process, which can add toxins to the water. Third, you need to go through the permitting process before dumping to show that the water is in fact not contaminated because you can't unscramble an egg. You don't get to say "trust me bro", for good reason.

lern_too_spel 2y ago

A company run by Shotwell at the pleasure of its voting shareholders, with 78% of those votes cast by Musk.