SpaceX Expansion at Boca Chica Just Got More Likely

The Texas Tribune reports that at Monday's meeting of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission they voted unanimously to pursue an exchange that would give 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park in Cameron County, Texas, to SpaceX.  In exchange, the state park land would be swapped for 477 acres adjacent to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, an area the agency has been interested in for many years because it’s “one of the most biologically diverse regions in North America” and provides habitat for endangered species and migratory birds. It's also reportedly an excellent area for fishing, kayaking, hiking, camping, and birding.

SpaceX appears to be swapping the 477-acre plot through an affiliate company.

SpaceX hasn't said how it will use the 43 acres it will receive in the deal, but the land is located near existing launch and rocket manufacturing infrastructure at Starbase. TPWD will now begin negotiations with SpaceX for the land swap, including environmental assessments that could take up to 18 months.

It shouldn't be a surprise that the people who oppose any sort of development would be out in protest about this.  According to the Texas Tribune story, people want to swim at that beach in Boca Chica without interruption or having to share the area in any way, so the opposition to this move has been big despite the gain of 11 acres at Atascosa for every acre given up at Boca Chica. 

At Monday’s TPWD meeting in Austin — the last opportunity for people to give feedback on the land swap — almost all chairs were occupied and people stood in the back. During nearly four hours of public testimony, most speakers opposed the exchange, including some who drove more than 300 miles to Austin from Brownsville in three minivans.

“Boca Chica Beach is the first place that my little brother went to a beach. I went there the day my sister was born and most recently I spread my uncle’s ashes there. Please do not give SpaceX an inch because they will take a mile,” said Emma Guevara, who grew up in Brownsville and is now a member of South Texas Environmental Justice Network and a field organizer in Brownsville for the Sierra Club.

TPWD spokesperson Stephanie Garcia said that public access to the public beach through the park or along State Highway 4 would remain as it is now, only interrupted for tests or launches that might endanger travelers along the road. She went on to say the 477 acres the state would receive is located along the Lower Laguna Madre — the shallow bay between the coast and South Padre Island — and would increase public water access.

Kathy Lueders, SpaceX's general manager at Starbase, spoke at Monday's meeting. "Those launches are exciting the young minds that are watching them … children become what they see," Lueders said as people booed behind her, according to the Texas Tribune. "Today it is not an aspiration to be a rocket scientist and work in the Rio Grande Valley. It is a reality. And one day we hope those kids that are following the launches are seeing themselves and a future spacecraft launching."

I was interested in the size and placement of the Laguna Atascosa NWR, so I asked Bing maps to show me and then did a screen capture.  The NWR is getting is the white outlined area at the top and the little ellipse in the lower right is the entire area of SpaceX Starbase, Boca Chica Village and everything else.  The white outlined area is the entire NWR, not just the 477 acres they're trading, and the oval is far more than just the 23 acres.  Just to see where they are on a satellite picture.