A coalition of academics and environmental groups has petitioned the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to halt to the processing of orbital data center (ODC) applications.
– Sebastian Moss
With representation from environmental law organization Earthjustice, the group is petitioning the US regulator under the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which mandates federal agencies to assess the environmental impacts of their actions.
“If ever a situation warranted a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS), it is this one,” the petition said. “A PEIS would allow for a comprehensive analysis of the impacts of … placing virtually countless new ODC into orbit, threatening to degrade the ozone layer, the quality of the night sky, and change the very chemistry of the stratosphere itself.”
The coalition of groups includes Environment America, itself a coalition of environmental advocacy groups, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and DarkSky International, the latter of which has been outspoken about Starlink’s aspirations since the beginning of 2023, when it filed a lawsuit against Starlink’s Gen2 satellite rollout, which sought regulatory permission for only 7,500 new satellites.
