Experts warn Trump's controversial new space policy could actually be illegal
Even the POTUS might not have the power to pull this off
He might (arguably) be the most powerful man in the world, but that doesn't mean President Donald Trump can flout the rules.
Since reentering the White House on January 20, we've seen the President of the United States' second term prove to be even more controversial than his first.
If you thought building a wall across the Mexican border was something, you ain't seen nothing yet.
As well as the implementation of Elon Musk to the Department of Government Efficiency in an attempt to cut $2 trillion from the government spend, he's outlined his plans for a massive Golden Dome to protect the USA, deployed the National Guard to the streets of DC, and faced backlash from his One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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It seems that President Donald Trump isn't done yet, with his new space policy being another cause for concern.
You only have to look at the outrage surrounding Katy Perry's 11-minute trip to space to see how society is worried about the potential environmental impact of increased traffic to the stars. The POTUS has just relaxed the rules on commercial rocket launches and spaceport development, which is great news for the likes of Jeff Bezos and Trump's former BFF, Elon Musk.
Signed on August 13, 2025, the "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry" executive order is supposed to enable "a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030."
As reported by The Guardian, Jared Margolis, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, is questioning whether Trump's latest order is even legal.
The group has previously litigated environmental issues surrounding launches, with Margolis claiming Trump "is trying to do an end run around” the law.
Alongside pumping pollution into the atmosphere, rocket launches are said to damage habitats and kill wildlife, some of which could be protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Trump's latest act greenlights the US Transportation Department to “use all available authorities to eliminate or expedite” environmental reviews on rocket launches. Currently, the National Environmental Policy Act (Nepa) review looks at a variety of impacts that launches have on human health and the wider environment. There's also the Coastal Zone Management Act, which is a federal law that permits states to dictate how their coastlines are used.
The "Enabling Competition in the Commercial Space Industry" executive order apparently targets both, with Margolis explaining: "The order is directing the transportation department to do whatever they can to avoid Nepa, but it doesn’t mean that’s possible, or that they have the authority to do so."
One anonymous space industry expert who works around Nepa issues told the outlet: "We’re accelerating the number of launches and blinding ourselves to the follow-up effects that they have on the environment – that spells disaster."
All of this comes at a time when space traffic is spiking, with Musk's SpaceX targeting 180 launches by the end of 2025. This is quite the jump from the 96 launches in 2023.
The Center for Biological Diversity has previously sued several federal agencies and SpaceX due to launches from Texas' Boca Chica launch site on the Gulf of Mexico, with the Federal Aviation Administration accused of assisting in turning this 'ecologically sensitive area' into a "sacrifice zone" as litigation continues.
In terms of what happens next, Dan Farber, an environmental law attorney with the University of California, Berkeley, warned that Trump's plan “fits with their overall desire to eliminate environmental considerations and reviews.
"Clearly what Trump wants to do is bulldoze through all this procedural stuff."