Amazon founder Bezos seeks free pass for his space company to contaminate Indian River Lagoon
- Staci-lee Sherwood
- 10 hours ago
- 10 min read
By Staci-lee Sherwood
In 2021 Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin space tech company, sued NASA after losing a $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The irony is that SpaceX has had a LOT of failures. The lawsuit wasn’t about quality it was about something closer to home…ego. Now Bezos has set his sights on Florida. Lame duck Florida Governor Desantis and his very polluter friendly Florida Dept of Environmental Protection (FDEP) are about to give a free pass to billionaire Bezos to pollute. Surprised? You shouldn’t be because this is pretty much how Florida and most of the country do business.
We are in the age of transaction, way beyond the era of consumerism, this shadows every action, every thought and every deal businesses make. No longer any worry about fines, repercussions or media exposure. The media has been either bullied or paid off into complicit silence. For those who know history the scandals of the 1920s which brought on the stock market crash and Great Depression, pale in comparison to today’s business shenanigans.
In the 1980s we had a lot of financial scandals. Ivan Boesky (the inspiration for the ‘Wall Street’ character Gordon Gekko who stated “greed is good” and Michael Milken were at the forefront of the headlines. They came to symbolize everything that was wrong with our consumer driven economy and culture and greed for greed’s sake. Those two went to jail but their ilk continue and are making headlines once again. The names change but the core driver of ego and greed stay the same. Once Bezos founded Blue Origin in 2000 it was only a matter of time before another rich guy, perhaps suffering with the same bloated ego, started his own company to compete. That’s probably why Elon Musk started SpaceX. That’s how these people operate, it’s more about them than anything else.
Is greed good? Money can be used for doing a lot of good, but too many times the super rich spend it on mega homes and yachts and not for what most call the greater good.
‘For the love of money is the root of all evil’ - Quote from 1 Timothy 6:10
History of Amazon and Bezos
I remember when Amazon was just a small website that sold books back in 1995. Few people thought it would last. Hard to imagine back then how it would have a devastating effect on bookstores, even the big chains like B. Dalton, Borders and Waldenbooks are all out of business. They couldn’t compete with a cheaper product shipped to them. Eventually Amazon started selling more items and mushroomed into the behemoth it is today.
Amazon today has a market cap of $2.4 trillion. Imagine what good someone could do if they wanted to with that much money and influence. Many of their business practices have been called into question for being unethical. When it comes to paying taxes, a sticking point for the politicians in Washington who depend on big donors in exchange for tax benefits, the game is deny and deflect. No one wants to pay taxes but it’s necessary if we want a government that funds important things like public school, hospitals, road repair and water. We’ve seen what happens what they’re privatized, higher prices lower quality.
A quick look at how taxes are structured for companies and your eyes glaze over at the tedious often boring minutia involved. It’s complicated even for the brainiacs but that isn’t an excuse to get away paying nothing especially when you brag about the billionaires you reap. Amazon is a master at evading their fair share of taxes. From the beginning Bezos hatched a plan to pay as little as possible while putting his competition out of business. Amazon skips paying their share of taxes by avoiding the local property tax by promising to bring jobs, the most over used excuse used by companies with little to no intention of follow through. They also receive local, state and federal subsidies and grants. According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, between 2018 - 2020, Amazon reported $44.7 billion in pre-tax profits, but paid $1.9 billion in corporate tax. That may sound like a lot but the rate they paid is less than 5%, well below the 21% other corporations have to pay.
Business channel CNBC reported in 2020 that Amazon had to pay taxes for the first time since 2016. If an individual doesn’t pay taxes for several years, while earning a boatload of money, they would be in jail. Over the years Amazon has avoided paying billions in federal income tax. All of their methods used are legal but should they be held up in high regard when they make billions then cry about paying taxes? Those taxes pay for the services their employees depend on.
Click here to read about some of their business practices
and here
Click here to read about their approach to taxes
No wonder the logo of Amazon is a smile
Now Amazon is in the throes of building massive data centers for Ai (I think of Ai as artificial Unintelligence because it has a litany of problems including false information). While the tech industry parades a long list of wonderful things Ai can do they deny the most troubling. The federal government has been drawn into the web of deceit either by money, favors or fear and tout the same talking points lobbyists for the tech giants gave them. They have failed the public which they are suppose to represent in favor of the tech bros. The media too is complicit choosing to cover the miracles Ai will perform while dismissing or ignoring the long list of problems it brings.
The amount of water and power these data centers will need will undoubtedly encroach on those same needs the public has, except Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple have billions to spend to get their way and the public does not. In era of transactional politics who do you think will win access to the water and power? Let’s not forget the pollution all this costs when they dig up the world for the rare minerals needed to run this. Looking at the real cost of Ai it doesn’t look like a good deal for humanity but rather a cancer on a runaway train we have all been forced to ride until it crashes.
We have already seen many problems with robots but who knows what else has happened we don’t know about:
In 1979 a robot killed a line worker at a Ford Motor Company, I’m guessing most have forgotten this.
In 2018 an Amazon robot in New Jersey caused injury to 24 warehouse workers by puncturing a beer can and releasing bee repellent sending many to the hospital
In 2023 a man died after being crushed by a robot in South Korea in 2023
According to ScienceDirect “Using Severe Injury Reports (SIRs) from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), we identified 77 robot-related accidents from 2015-2022. Of these, 54 involved stationary robots, resulting in 66 injuries, mainly finger amputations and fractures to the head and torso. Mobile robots caused 23 accidents, leading to 27 injuries, mainly fractures to the legs and feet.” Click here to read more https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003687024001017
These robots are using Ai so we can already see how complicated the future will be as this technology takes over everything. The public are the guinea pigs in this experiment because this technology is being embraced and rolled out in hospitals, factories, schools and cars without years of studying its safety or effectiveness. Add to that the ego and half truths being told by those that run the tech companies and an educated consumer has no other recourse but to be wary at the very least and avoid as much Ai as possible at best.
What is Blue Origin
After making millions with his shopping mall website what else comes next….an aeronautical company. Space is the final frontier and Musk and Bezos plan to conquer it using their billions to peddle influence in Washington DC the capital of transactional deals. Of course taxpayers foot a lot of this cost but probably don’t know how much. Blue Origin was founded in 2000 and after a slow start, like Amazon, has pushed itself to the front line. Since 2020 the company has received nearly $1.5 billion in government contracts from NASA (whose own budget is over $24 billion) and the military. Why are we giving so much to NASA when they just plan to outsource to Musk and Bezos? Private companies have less accountability than government agencies so that’s another thing to consider.
Like Amazon and other companies their ‘green’ policies are more spin than actuality. Greenwashing is a term for those that make false claims of environmental stewardship, sustainability and fair trade but when lifting over the layer of pr what’s left of the façade is business as usual. This is true for Blue Origin. No way could any company involved with space or tech be ‘green’ especially when planning on dumping their toxic wastewater into a lagoon the taxpayers of Florida will have to pay for. This is who Florida wants to get into bed with.
Blue Origin launch.
Can the Indian River Lagoon take any more contamination?
In a nutshell the answer is no it can’t. The IRL is so polluted it should be declared legally dead with a full ban on any dumping of anything. Between the seagrass collapsing from being sprayed with poisonous herbicides, sewage and trash being dumped into it, toxic blue green algae blooms, record manatee deaths and fish kills this body of water has been stressed to the brink. Now Florida officials want to compound an already toxic brew by adding more heavy metal contamination. If you think there is such a thing as cleaning up water….there isn’t. What goes in a liquid stays in some form but people like to cling to the myth.
On November 18, 2025 a public notice was issued by FDEP for a draft permit for Blue Origin. They have applied for a permit to dump up to 500,000 gallons of industrial wastewater per day into a storm water system that drains toward the Indian River Lagoon. If you live in Florida you already know the likelihood of FDEP granting this permit is 100%. What FDEP calls environmental protection is the opposite of what a logical thinking person would call it. The embracing of technology intertwined with the promise of jobs and sprinkled with some sort of national security space plan will win over the people running Florida. A look at who gives them cash to run in exchange for favors added to the their bloated egos and obvious favoritism to developers (and hunters) over public outcry and it’s clear Florida government is corrupt from the top down and inside outside. What other conclusion could a thinking person draw?
I’m guessing they’re already dreaming of how they can sink their teeth into the Bezos billions while screwing over the taxpayers. Perhaps dreams of tax havens in foreign countries fill their thoughts while they pass legislation removing data from public view and local authority from protecting their land and water against state bully tactics that seek to contaminate and destroy. In the past few years Florida has acted more like a dictatorship than democracy:
"Rights of Nature" ordinance - 2020 state law (Fla. Stat. § 403.412) stripped local authority seeking to protect water in their jurisdiction. Sold as a lie about codifying state law under the Clean Waterways Act it’s just a ruse to streamline development hurdles
SB 180 - 2025 legislators passed this as a sort of hurricane help bill which ii isn’t. The real intent is to prevent local municipalities from trying to slow/prevent more destructive sprawl in their area which again this is only there to help developers
Proposed legislation has aimed to prevent local governments from adopting laws relating to water quality, quantity, and pollution control.
Plastic and Polystyrene Products: State statutes explicitly preempt local governments from regulating the "use or sale of” these despite they’re being a huge pollution problem in our water, wetlands and beaches.
With this tract record can anyone foresee a Florida that doesn’t bend over for cash from developers? A long list of endangered marine life will be killed off from sea turtles and manatees to sharks and fish. I can personally attest to how little FWC and FDEP care about that. I’ve written articles given speeches and interviews and in the end these incompetent corrupt agencies always bend over for money and nothing else. Click here to read the notice
An endangered Manatee will be another victim of Amazon and Florida state officials
Who really runs Florida
Developers and hunters run the state, with a few others tossed in the mix. From lame duck Governor Desantis to the commissioners of FWC and state agency FDEP they only have their jobs because they bend over for developer money. It’s not a secret, it’s broadcast, and Florida government can openly lie because they know there isn’t any ‘news’ paper that ever calls them out. Some media are complicit like WINK tv news salivating at the chance to witness a bear hunt instead of doing a real story on all the corruption at FWC, or lame like The Sun Sentinel now just a shadow of what used to be a good source of news until they chose a new fluff ‘environmental’ writer too scared for actual investigative journalism. Most local news prefer stories about finding a lost pet instead of the deliberate extermination of endangered species. They keep their jobs that way but fail to serve the public. Any real news rarely makes the light of day but even so never removes the problem. That’s who runs Florida.
What to do
Contact the following at FDEP and ask how can they justify dumping more toxic heavy metals into an already contaminated water?
FDEP Indian River Lagoon Basin Plan –
Chandler Keenan, Admin - chandler.b.keenan@floridadep.gov
850-245-8555
FDEP Water Quality Standards Program Contacts –
Nia Wellendorf, Program Admin – Nijole.Wellendorf@FloridaDEP.gov
850-245-8190
DeEdgra Wyce, Admin Asst III - DeEdgra.Wyche@FloridaDEP.gov
850-245-8346
FDEP Standards Development –
Kaitlyn Sutton, Enviro Admin – Kaitlyn.Sutton@FloridaDEP.gov
850-245-8819
FDEP Aquatic Ecology and Quality Assurance Section -
Jessica Patronis, Enviro Admin – Jessica.Patronis@FloridaDEP.gov 850-245-8980
Joy Jackson, Enviro Supervisor IV – Joy.Jackson@FloridaDEP.gov 850-245-8074
Stop buying on Amazon. There are millions of websites to choose from why feed the monster?
Educate yourself about who and what you vote for, remember all politicians lie so research what they actually voted for because they decide whether you live in a safe place or cancer ally
Find a better place to live or visit. There are 49 other states and about 195 countries so spend your money wisely
Sign and share this petition https://www.change.org/p/stop-industrial-wastewater-discharge-into-the-indian-river-lagoon?signed=true