Commissioners for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) recently postponed making a decision on a proposed land swap with SpaceX.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX wants to acquire 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park along the southernmost Gulf Coast in exchange for 477 acres near Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. The Texas-based space exploration company wants to use the acreage to expand its Starbase operations and rocket tests in Cameron County in the Rio Grande Valley.
The transaction was scheduled for a vote on Jan. 25, but the agenda item was pulled a day earlier after some area residents and environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, urged the state commissioners to hold off.
Texas Parks and Wildlife staff have expressed support for the swap, saying the land near the refuge would benefit the state’s conservation efforts and provide additional recreational opportunities.
“While still under consideration, the potential land exchange could provide mutual benefits by allowing Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to enhance its management and protection of Texas’ natural resources and increase recreational opportunities, such as hiking, camping, water recreation, and wildlife viewing while allowing for expansion of SpaceX’s facilities and operations in Texas,” the department said in a statement. “These conversations continue more than a decade of cooperative work with SpaceX to carry out our respective missions as neighbors.”
‘Rushed the Process’
Some environmental groups have accused TPWD of rushing the process and not providing proper public notice to allow public feedback.
“We have serious concerns about the proposed transfer, and we don’t believe TPWD followed code in the way it provided the public with notice about this controversial proposal,” Cyrus Reed, conservation director for the Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter, said in a statement.
“The agency also, as far as we know, failed to provide notice in Spanish and in Spanish-language news outlets,” Mr. Reed continued. “This is an important decision involving state lands, and the public deserves the right to know and provide input before a decision is rushed through on behalf of a private developer like SpaceX.”
According to TPWD’s code, the agency says it must clearly state the program or project for public hearing at least 30 days in advance of the meeting. It must also publish a weekly notice for three consecutive weeks prior to the hearing.
The Sierra Club says the agency caught the public completely off-guard, including the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, which has ancestral ties to the land.
“We were all blindsided, to be honest, and the people are trying to find ways to respond in a matter of days,” Emma Guevara, a Brownsville field organizer for the Sierra Club, said in a statement. “With the rushed public notices and that these were not available in Spanish, we suspect the agency wants to speed this along.”
On Jan. 24, TPWD commissioners decided to push the agenda item to March, noting the agency had received 1,302 public comments regarding the land exchange. Of those comments, 1,039 opposed the proposal, and 239 supported it.
Legal Challenges
In April 2023, SpaceX’s Starship exploded in South Texas just minutes after launch. The blast sent chunks of concrete and metal shrapnel thousands of feet from the launchpad site, adjacent to the wildlife refuge near Boca Chica State Park and beach.It also sparked a 3.5-acre brush fire south of the launchpad and sent a cloud of pulverized concrete up to 6.5 miles northwest of the launchpad, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Mr. Musk joined the FAA as a defendant in the case and later asked a federal court to dismiss the lawsuit.
On Nov. 15, 2023, the FAA signed off on SpaceX’s modified vehicle operator license for Starship/Super Heavy operation, concluding that its previous assessment met the requirements for approval.
The Center for Biological Diversity did not respond to a request for further information before press time.
