Blue Origin seeks to dump wastewater into fragile Florida lagoon
Blue Origin is seeking permission to discharge more than half a million gallons of processed and unprocessed industrial wastewater each day into a pond that will flow into the Indian River, according to its permit.
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The Brevard County commission on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss Blue Origin's permit application to dump wastewater that would flow into a sensitive Florida waterway. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Jeff Bezos's aerospace company, Blue Origin, is seeking permission to dump wastewater that would flow into the Indian River Lagoon, an environmentally sensitive waterway in Florida that officials are trying to restore.
The Brevard County commission was scheduled Tuesday to discuss Blue Origin's permit application to discharge industrial wastewater from its manufacturing facility in Florida's central Atlantic coastal community.
The Brevard County commission on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss Blue Origin's permit application to dump wastewater that would flow into a sensitive Florida waterway. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI)
"That's really troubling to me especially when we are spending so much money as a community on the half-cent sales tax and the save the Indian River Lagoon tax," Brevard County Commissioner Katie Delaney told Fox 35.
Blue Origin is seeking permission to discharge more than half a million gallons of processed and unprocessed industrial wastewater each day into a pond that will flow into the Indian River, according to its permit.
Blue Origin prepared to launch its New Glenn rocket carrying a pair of NASA's EscaPADE spacecraft from Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station earlier this month. Blue Origin is seeking permission to dump wastewater that would flow into the Indian River Lagoon, an environmentally sensitive waterway in Florida that officials are trying to restore. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI)
The company told Fox 35 Orlando in a statement that the permit is "a renewal of an existing agreement that has been in place for more than five years," and that the company is "committed to maintaining responsible and compliant operations."
But the 156-mile Indian River Lagoon has been the subject of environmental litigation and saw an alarming rise in manatee deaths in 2021. A petition on Change.org is calling for the permit application to be thrown out, arguing that the lagoon's aquatic life is already straining from pollution as well as noise from the aerospace industry in the area.
"The Indian River Lagoon is already fighting for its life," the petition states. "Decades of nutrient pollution, algae blooms, seagrass collapse, habitat loss, and record manatee deaths have pushed this fragile ecosystem to the edge."
The Brevard County commission on Tuesday held a meeting to discuss Blue Origin's permit application to dump wastewater that would flow into a sensitive Florida waterway. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI)
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will have the final say on the permit. Brevard County commissioners are considering whether to request that the department hold a public meeting on the company's proposal.
Bezos, who is best known for founding online retail giant Amazon, launched Blue Origin in 2000 as a way to make space travel more accessible. The company recently used its New Glenn booster rockets for its second-ever space launch, deploying two NASA satellites bound for Mars.
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