FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 19, 2025
Contact: Bekah Hinojosa at bekah@sotxejn.org or (956) 975 -6634
Rio Grande Valley Organizations and Tribe Oppose Bad Texas Bills for SpaceX
BROWNSVILLE, TX. – This morning, two Texas Senate bills related to SpaceX activities—SB 2188 and SB 2230—were presented to the TX Senate Natural Resources Committee. These bills were filed just last week by Senator Adam Hinojosa, giving residents in the Rio Grande Valley impacted by the bills only a few days to express their opposition to Senator Hinojosa and Representative Janie Lopez. If passed, the bills would grant SpaceX’s company town, Starbase, essentially all control over decisions regarding access to Boca Chica Beach when it is incorporated this May. South Texas Environmental Justice Network recently acquired, via records request, a map of the voting district for the proposed Starbase city, showing a crudely drawn boundary. Residents and organizations from the Rio Grande Valley will continue to urge Senate committee members to block the bills and prevent them from advancing to a floor vote and reaching the House. The proposed bills raise constitutional concerns and should require a constitutional election to grant any entity the authority to close public beach access.
For years, organizations in the Rio Grande Valley, along with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, have opposed the excessive closures of Boca Chica Beach enforced by the Cameron County Commission and the Texas General Land Office (GLO). The Texas GLO testified today on the bill and admitted to the committee that they didn’t have the authority to decide on county beach property. These closures restrict residents from recreational activities and fishing and prevent tribal members from accessing sacred lands for ceremonies. Residents have also raised concerns about the earthquakes, illegal dumping of polluted water, and wildfires caused by SpaceX operations and rocket testing on Boca Chica beach.
In response, Josette Angelique Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, issued the following statement:
“These public officials supposed to represent us are showing that they are bought and paid for by Elon Musk and SpaceX. Who will be the official that finally speaks up for the residents who can’t access Boca Chica Beach for swimming or fishing because of SpaceX? We, along with many residents of the Rio Grande Valley, have been voicing our concerns about the harms of SpaceX for years. We have sent letters to regulators and elected representatives, filed lawsuits, and spoken at public hearings, yet our voices go unheard. Instead of acknowledging the concerns of low-income Brown and Native people in the Rio Grande Valley, these elected officials ignore our emails, and instead, they choose to go out of their way to file bills for SpaceX.”
In response, Juan Mancias, chairman of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, issued the following statement:
“Since Elon Musk’s arrival, both police and private SpaceX security have harassed the Esto’k Gna people for attempting to access Boca Chica Beach, a site that is sacred to us and central to our Tribe’s creation story. We will continue to resist Elon Musk and his colonization of our lands, including his false marketing and propaganda. Any politician that stands with Musk and his industries is breeding fascism in Texas. These bills for SpaceX must not be allowed to pass.”
In response, Lupita Sanchez, executive director from Border Workers United, issued the following statement:
“Granting Starbase city status would give Elon Musk control over natural resources, including the water supply. This would limit the rest of the community’s access to this essential resource.”
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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South Texas Environmental Justice Network supports the leadership of frontline BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities. It includes numerous organizations, campaigns, individuals, and the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribal leadership from the South Texas region that challenge the status quo and corporate power to build a future aligned in values, principles, and praxis that centers on the social and environmental health of local Native and BIPOC communities living in reciprocal relationships with our shared natural home. https://www.facebook.com/SOTXEJN
Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas is one of the aboriginal, autochthonous, Indigenous peoples of Texas. The lands in question are within the original boundaries of the traditional homelands of the Carrizo Comecrudo Nation, who were also living in the area now known as the Rio Grande Valley, the mouth of that river, Boca Chica and its surrounding environs with many villages on both sides of the river as recorded by the first Spanish incursions into the area. http://www.carrizocomecrudonation.com/
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