The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously Monday to pursue an exchange that would give 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park in Cameron County to Elon Musk’s SpaceX spacecraft company.
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, the agency said.
The vote grants Texas Parks and Wildlife Department staff the authority to begin negotiations with SpaceX for the land swap, including conducting environmental assessments that could take up to 18 months.
At a press conference after the meeting, Several South Texas community and environmental groups held signs reading “protect Boca Chica Beach” and said they are disappointed with the agency’s decision.
Boca Chica, a 1,354-acre park located at Texas’ southernmost point along the Gulf Coast, about 20 miles east of Brownsville, has long been a favorite swimming and fishing destination for the majority Hispanic community in the Rio Grande Valley.
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.
Stephanie Garcia, a TPWD spokesperson said in an email last week the exchange would not affect public beach access through the park or along State Highway 4. Garcia said 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 beach access.
Garcia added that the small tracts that make up the 43 acres the state is exchanging do not include any water frontage and are surrounded by private properties or existing SpaceX facilities. According to the agency, the land the state is receiving could be used for fishing, kayaking, hiking, camping and birding.
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This was the second time the agency scheduled a vote on the Boca Chica land swap — the first was delayed in late January after public backlash by conservationists and some South Texas residents who said the deal was being rushed and TPWD violated its open meetings code by not providing enough notice to Spanish speakers about the proposal.
Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño Jr., who originally opposed the land swap because TPWD did not involve him in the decision making, said he now supports it for conservation reasons.
“This land (the state would receive) is a treasure trove of biodiversity,” Treviño said at the meeting. “Let us embrace this opportunity to safeguard our natural heritage, foster community engagement and create enduring legacies for generations to come.”
Environmental groups and community members are not convinced, pointing out that SpaceX has restricted public access to the beach before.
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See here for the background. I still don’t know what to make of this. On the surface it seems reasonable, but there’s a lot of vociferous disagreement with it anyway. Maybe the negotiations and environmental assessments will help overcome some of those objections. Maybe the negotiations will fall apart and this will get filed away under “wasn’t meant to be”. The Elon factor makes me more skeptical of this than I would be otherwise. Like I said, I dunno. The Chron has more.