FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 5, 2024
Contact: Bekah Hinojosa at bekah@sotxejn.org or (956) 975-6634
Rio Grande Valley Organizations Send Letter to FAA About the Dangers of SpaceX
BROWNSVILLE, TX. – Today, Rio Grande Valley organizations sent a letter urging the Federal Aviation Administration and Congressman Vicente Gonzalez to fix the license review process, consult with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe, and meet with impacted community organizations from the Rio Grande Valley about SpaceX. Last month, the FAA announced a draft Environmental Assessment for SpaceX’s proposal to launch the controversial Starship/SuperHeavy, the largest rocket in human history, on Brownsville’s Boca Chica beach up to 25 times yearly. Residents have been severely impacted by rocket launches and have experienced shaking of their homes and an explosion that caused debris to fall on the low-income community, the wildlife refuge, and lands that are sacred to the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas.
“We sent a letter to Congressman Gonzalez and urging the FAA to fix their seriously flawed and inadequate review process for SpaceX’s proposal to launch even more dangerous and unnecessary rockets from our hyper-exploited and over-militarized border community,” said Christopher Basaldú, PhD with the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and based in Brownsville, TX. “The FAA is blatantly exhibiting environmental racism in its process for SpaceX. The FAA consistently refuses to translate their materials into Spanish; the FAA still has not consulted with the original Indigenous people of the land, Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation. And the FAA is not even conducting a full review of the destruction that SpaceX has already caused to the environment and sacred lands sites of the original people of the land.”
For years, Rio Grande Valley residents have been outspoken about SpaceX’s routine operations cutting off access to Boca Chica beach from local families from fishing, preventing the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe from accessing sacred lands for ceremonies, destroying more than 60 acres of wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species and threatening public safety with rocket shrapnel blown into the community. Last year, 27 Rio Grande Valley organizations signed a letter opposing SpaceX’s launching of the Starship/Superheavy rocket in their community.
Background: Residents and organizations from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas have spoken up about the environmental harms of SpaceX operations in their community. SpaceX has routinely closed beach access for long-time fisherman families, scorched the wildlife refuge, and threatened the health and safety of the community with explosions.
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