SpaceX land swap discussion

_{Highlighted in green is the land Texas Parks and Wildlife would give SpaceX in the proposed land swap. The part outlined in red is the Boca Chica State Park boundary. IMAGE COURTESY TEXAS PARKS AND WILDLIFE}

Today, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department will decide on SpaceX’s proposal to exchange approximately 477 acres of land near the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge for roughly 43 acres from Boca Chica State Park.

“Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) desires to expand its operational footprint around its launch facilities at Boca Chica,” according to the commission meeting agenda item No. 2.

The commission is scheduled to consider the proposal at a special meeting at 10 a.m. today at TPWD headquarters, located at 4200 Smith School Road, in Austin.

The meeting will be livestreamed on the Parks and Wildlife Department’s website.

Jeffery D. Hildebrand, chairman of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, Oliver J. Bell, vice-chairman, and members James E. Abell, Wm. “Leslie” Doggett, Paul L. Foster, Anna B. Galo, Robert L. “Bobby” Patton Jr., Travis B. “Blake” Rowling and Dick Scott will decide on the land swap.

The meeting was originally scheduled for Jan. 25.

The acquisition would allow TPWD to protect the property’s diverse habitats, which include lomas, coastal grasslands, and wetlands, according to the meeting agenda.

It also states it would provide recreational opportunities such as hiking, camping, water recreation and wildlife viewing.

Laguna Atascosa NWR was established in 1946 to provide habitat for wintering waterfowl and other migratory birds, according to its website.

TPWD acquired Boca Chica State Park in 1994 and until recently, leased it to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which managed it as a unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, according to the meeting agenda.

On Feb. 26, South Texas Environmental Justice Network, Voces Unidas RGV, Another Gulf is Possible and Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas conducted a  news conference to raise awareness of the environmental harms of SpaceX operations.

Christopher Basaldú, a member of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, read a statement from the tribe’s chairman, Juan Macias, saying Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, does not deserve any land from Boca Chica. 

_{During a Railroad Commission hearing in 2021, Tim George, an attorney for the SpaceX subsidiary, Lone Star Mineral Development, explained SpaceX is looking to expand operations in the area. George said the company plans to drill for natural gas to power its rockets. FILE PHOTO THE RIDER} 

“SpaceX is colonizing our ancestral lands without our consent and without any regard for our sacred sites,” Basaldú read. “… If Texas Parks and Wildlife Department gives more land to SpaceX, Musk will not stop trying to take more and more land until he has destroyed … the whole area for his fantasies of benevolent space tourism.”

In Macias’ statement, he demanded SpaceX meet with the tribal leaders before the next launch.

“The land is not for sale or bargaining within both parties, making subjective decisions that in the long run will accommodate fossil fuel and industry interests, like SpaceX,” Macias’ statement said. “There are nothing but sympathetic oil and gas supporters on the TPWD board.”

Basaldú ended Macias’ statement by saying SpaceX and TPWD do not care about Boca Chica.

Michelle Serrano, co-director of Voces Unidas RGV, said losing the access of Boca Chica Beach is monumentally unjust to the people who have come to the area for generations to partake in recreational activities with their families.

“The area that they’ve chosen is the area that we have been trying to defend ever since they decided to go on to have space industrial manufacturing,” Serrano said. “… This area is much too important to too many different groups for it to just be given away to private industry.”

Basaldú also said the expansion of SpaceX is destructive for the community.

“I don’t think he should be allowed to purchase any more land,” he said. “The expansion of SpaceX is only destructive. … I know they want to build another launchpad, which means that they want to be able to increase the number of launches. That puts more pollution into the air. It’s more [of a] chance or risk of a catastrophic event.”

During the news conference, Basaldú said Musk’s idea of wanting to rename the area Starbase, Texas is colonizer behavior.

“It just shows that money is what’s worshiped in the modern United States and giving, you know, one of the richest people in the world the power to name and to claim an area that was never his, never belonged to him, nor his ancestors, while deliberately ignoring the people who actually live there,” he said.

Serrano also opposes Musk’s idea of renaming the area. 

“As far as I know, it’s still the 78521 [ZIP code], which is where I live,” she said. “So that’s Brownsville, Texas, baby. So you can call it whatever you want, but that’s Boca Chica Beach. That’s Brownsville beach.”