Aerospace company Blue Origin, founded by tech billionaire Jeff Bezos, is facing increasing scrutiny in Florida over wastewater linked to its Merritt Island manufacturing campus. A draft permit issued by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has prompted petitions, criticism from environmental groups and a unanimous vote by Brevard County commissioners to request a public hearing.
The DEP’s proposal would allow Blue Origin to discharge up to 0.49 million gallons per day of treated industrial wastewater into a 403,000-square-foot stormwater pond that drains into the Indian River Lagoon. The proposed volume falls just below the threshold that would trigger stricter nutrient limits under state law:a point that fuels opposition from advocates and local officials who warn that even treated effluent could worsen nutrient levels in a lagoon already struggling with seagrass loss, algal blooms and declining wildlife.
Although the DEP is not required to hold a hearing, public pressure has intensified. A petition opposing the plan has garnered more than 10,000 signatures, and on Dec. 9 Brevard County commissioners voted unanimously to request a public hearing, citing widespread concern. Neither DEP nor the commissioners returned ENR’s calls seeking comment.
Among those taking part is the Marine Resources Council (MRC), a nonprofit organization based in Palm Bay, Florida, focused on protecting and restoring the Indian River Lagoon. In a Dec. 4 letter to DEP, MRC warned that the proposed discharge could add nearly 178 million gallons of fresh water annually to the northern lagoon, further reducing salinity and undermining seagrass and shellfish recovery.
The group highlighted the lagoon’s annual economic value of $28 billion and noted that restoration costs already exceed $14 billion. MRC also raised concerns about the cumulative impacts of spaceport growth, citing pollutants associated with launches such as heavy metals and black carbon, and asked DEP to hold a public meeting to discuss monitoring requirements, treatment options and long-term management of wastewater.
“This is not just a sewage dump … we have multiple operations (SpaceX, NASA itself) all increasing operations at the spaceport,” said Laura Wilson, MRC’s executive director, “That’s something we don’t think is being addressed in any of these permit applications that are coming in.”
The Merritt Island proposal comes as the DEP has already approved another Blue Origin wastewater permit at Cape Canaveral. The five-year industrial wastewater permit for the company’s launch pad deluge system at the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral, valid until November 5, 2029, governs the collection and management of water used during launches and static fire tests. Each event can use up to one million gallons, most of which is released as steam and the rest goes into a holding pond authorized by the St. River Water Management District. Johns.
Under the permit, Blue Origin is required to conduct quarterly sampling for pH, nutrients, metals, hydrocarbons and solids, with results submitted through discharge monitoring reports. Nitrogen and phosphorus limits are set in the Banana River Basin Management Action Plan, and groundwater monitoring wells must confirm compliance with monthly, quarterly and annual schedules beginning January 1.
As regulators weigh new industrial discharges upstream, projects and policy changes downstream highlight the scope of the restoration work underway in the estuary. In July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated a 12-mile stretch of the Indian River Lagoon from Vero Beach to Fort Pierce, about 90 miles south of Cape Canaveral, as a no-discharge zone for ships, banning even treated sewage, WFLX reported. And men Melbourne, about 30 miles south of Cape Canaveralthe $23.2 million Crane Creek/M-1 Canal Stream Restoration Project recently redirected base flow to the St. River. Johns, reversing a century-old diversion that had been sending nutrient-rich stormwater east into the lagoon.
