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Hello and welcome to the American Birding podcast from the American Birding Association.

I am your host, Nate Swick.

South Texas is known for its exceptional space for birds and birders.

And due to the efforts of Elon Musk's SpaceX, it is increasingly also known for a more frustrating intersection of space and birds.

In a recent piece by the New York Times into the impact of the Space X facility at Bocca, Texas, the newspaper

of record found that, well, SpaceX is a pretty lousy neighbor to the coastal wildlife refuge,

the protected Civil War battlefield, and frankly everyone who lives in the area.

The launching of the ever-expanding in all senses of the word, SpaceX vehicles has destroyed

habitat, leaving charred landscapes, befouled water, and chunks of space vehicles on nesting

grounds of many shorebird species, and the critically endangered Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle,

even when the launches are successful, to say nothing, of course, of the times that SpaceX ships have blown up.

More than once, as it turns out, these incidences have instigated a broader debate over how to balance economic progress and technological advancements.

You can't see it, but I'm using air quotes there with protections of

these ecosystems and the needs of local communities. It is an expansive investigation done by the

New York Times that sees battling government agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration,

whose goals are sort of intertwined to some extent with Musk's, but also who have been a little

...