By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

An ex-Cabinet minister yesterday accused the Government of “flouting the law” over the SpaceX rocket booster landings in its haste “to bend over backwards to please” the latter’s billionaire owner, Elon Musk.

Romauld Ferreira, who oversaw the passage of upgraded environmental protection laws and regulations under the Minnis administration, told Tribune Business that the temporary halt to SpaceX landings in The Bahamas until a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is completed was effectively an admission that the Government had got the approvals process “backwards”.

Pointing out the regulations accompanying the Environmental Planning and Protection Act require that a full EIA be completed before “the activity” it is examining can take place, he asserted that the Davis administration is “circumventing the law for those they want to do business with” and, in SpaceX’s case, had “thrown all caution to the wind” because of its connection to Mr Musk and his links to the White House.

Moving forward, Mr Ferreira told this newspaper that the EIA must include a “mapping of the debris field” from the first booster landing and, if no material fell on any Bahamian island, “show and demonstrate” this is the case. He argued that The Bahamas was really receiving “space garbage” under the guise of space tourism, and questioned who would be responsible if any debris fell on and damaged a Bahamian home.

The former environment minister also argued that the SpaceX situation has the capacity to further “erode public trust” in government, and enforcement of the law and accompanying regulations, if the proper process is not followed. He added that the result had been to permit “SpaceX to operate in the sovereign territory of The Bahamas in an unregulated manner”.

“Absolutely. It is doing it backwards,” Mr Ferreira said of the landing pause so a full EIA can be conducted. “You do the EIA first. The Environmental Planning and Protection Act regulations call for the EIA to be done first. The EIA is a planning tool; it must be done.

“What this is an admission that they allowed them to operate the space rocket without an EIA. That’s obvious. It shows a total disregard, not just for the environment, but the Environmental Planning and Protection Act and the regulations. It’s really alarming that they allowed this to go on in contravention of the law.”

Following calls from environmental advocates urging the Government to produce an EIA prior to the original SpaceX landing in Bahamian waters, an environmental baseline study conducted by local consultancy, BRON, was released. However, Eric Carey, the former Bahamas National Trust (BHT) executive director, yesterday said this report was not the same as an EIA.

He added that most environmentalists found the Government’s reliance on the BRON study to provide justification for permitting SpaceX to proceed “very deficient and short-sighted”, and praised the Davis administration and Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy, the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) director, for their decision to pause all landings until an EIA is completed.

“I think it is the right decision to have made,” Mr Carey said. “I think the point that a lot of the environmental community were making was that the EIA should have been done before the first landing was allowed in The Bahamas.

“Myself and others found that the decision to allow the landing based on an environmental baseline assessment, which all it says is what is there - it doesn’t say anything about what is likely to happen - most of us found that to be very deficient and short-sighted.

“I applaud the Government and Dr Neely-Murphy’s decision to suspend future landings until the full EIA has been completed. I think that’s the right decision for our country.” Mr Ferreira, meanwhile, said the Government had attempted to “pass off” the baseline study as a full EIA even though SpaceX’s booster landing had implications for climate change and potential space debris falling on Bahamian islands.

Pointing out that the launch released carbon dioxide and other “matter” into the Earth’s atmosphere, albeit at a higher level, the ex-minister said that in the absence of an EIA there was “no prediction of where this stuff is going to fall. We’re just accepting space garbage falling into the ocean and calling it space tourism.

“We never understood the full impact of what this was all about, and never had the potential risk set out in a way to see how this will affect us and who’s at risk,” Mr Ferreira argued. “They couldn’t tell you who was at risk, the trajectory, and who might be in the debris field. We’re not just an ocean. We’re a collection of islands with people living on them.

“Right now we should have a complete EIA and that should include analysis of the debris field that just happened. It’s not just theoretical. The EIA is a planning tool you do before the activity, not after the activity and then plan for it. The purpose is not just to predict the risk but assess things and suggest mitigation... If it [debris] drops on someone’s house, who’s accountable? Who’s responsible?”

As for the Government’s role, Mr Ferreira blasted: “We’re seeing more of the same from an administration circumventing the law for those they want to do business with. That’s a foolish thing to do. This is flouting the law but more of the same. It’s been a continuous mishmash and cherry-picking; in this case, a complete contravention of the environmental laws and flouting of the regulations.

“That’s it in a nutshell. It was a horrible decision to let them proceed without an EIA, a horrible decision. I think they were so enamoured by the fact that was Elon Musk and his company that they threw all caution to the wind, and bent over backwards, to please a foreign investor and government at the expense of the sovereignty of our country.”

Mr Ferreira also told Tribune Business that the SpaceX fall-out threatens to undermine Bahamians’ trust in governance. “One of the horrible things about it is that it erodes public trust. Every time you allow a development to proceed without an EIA, what you are doing is eroding public trust. That’s what’s happened on this occasion.

“What they have done is allow SpaceX to operate in our sovereign territory in an unregulated manner because the regulations require an EIA to be done prior to the activity. They ought to have had public meetings on the islands that could have been in the debris field. Whatever island may have been impacted, they needed to hold a public consultation.”

Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister, in unveiling the SpaceX booster landing pause, said: “We wish to advise that there will be no further Falcon landings in the Bahamas until SpaceX and its environmental agency has completed a full Environmental Impact Assessment. You may already be aware that any additional mandates, each require a separate licence from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Bahamas (CAAB).

“Regarding the debris from Starship 8’s tank, it was collected and removed outside of The Bahamas as a full expense of SpaceX. However, should any resident suspect space debris has washed ashore, please contact DEPP.

“None of it will remain in our country and The Bahamas would incur no cost. We emphasise that The Bahamas will incur no cost as a result of the debris recovery. The cost and logistics of this effort have been handled entirely by SpaceX in accordance with the international standards, and under Bahamian oversight to ensure compliance with safety and environmental standards.”

Kiko Dontchev, vice-president of launch at Space X, said it had seen the feedback from environmentalists and understands that a public consultation is necessary so persons can voice their concerns.

“We heard the feedback from the environmentalists, which is exactly why we are going to go do an EIA, and no landings will happen until we’re complete with that process. That process will also include a public comment period. So folks that have a say on the landings will have a chance,” said Mr Dontchev.

He added that the EIA is expected to be completed by the end of summer 2025, and the delay will not interfere with Space X’s scheduled launches. “We hope to be completed by the end of the summer, at which point we can restart,” said Mr Dontchev.

“It will not affect our cadence, but it will affect some of the trajectories we fly. We’re working to make that impact as minimal as possible. And we want to support The Bahamas and do the right thing, so we will figure out how to work through them.”