A judge is expected to hear a lawsuit June 1 concerning access restrictions to a South Texas beach amid SpaceX activities for the Starship program .
The Sierra Club, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas and non-profit Save RGV have joined together in a lawsuit against the Texas General Land Office, Texas land commissioner George P. Bush and Cameron County in Texas for closing Boca Chica Beach periodically for SpaceX operations during Starship tests, the Sierra Club stated May 5. The Boca Chica beach is near SpaceX’s Starbase facility, where it is building Starship rocket prototypes and their massive Super Heavy boosters.
“Restricting access to a public beach, as the defendants have done, violates the Texas constitution,” the Sierra Club said in a statement. None of the allegations have been proven in court, and the statement does not name SpaceX among the entities pursued in the lawsuit.
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The disputed Boca Chica beach is just down the road a bit from SpaceX’s Starbase facility where it develops, builds and tests its next-generation Starship vehicle and does other company work. Starbase is currently under a Federal Aviation Administration environmental review ahead of the company’s plans to launch it and a Super Heavy rocket on its debut orbital journey.
The fully reusable stack is intended to deliver people and cargo to the moon, Mars and other distant destinations. Founder Elon Musk has also said Mars settlement and deep space exploration will see reduced costs due to its reusability.
In 2013, according to the Sierra Club’s statement (opens in new tab), the Texas legislature amended the Texas Open Beaches Act to allow space flight operations to close beach access. Then in 2018, the club added, SpaceX built a rocket facility 1,500 feet (460 meters) from the beach’s water edge.
“The 2013 statute change conflicts with the state constitution, which Texas voters amended in 2009 — by a 77 percent majority — to guarantee the right to free and open access to public beaches,” the Sierra Club stated.
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The club alleged the beach was closed for 196 hours (the equivalent of about 8 days) in the first three months of 2022, and that 2021 saw more than 600 hours (roughly 25 equivalent days) of closures.
“The defendants have closed Boca Chica beach so frequently that RGV [Rio Grande Valley] residents have seen their access essentially disappear. The Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, which holds the land of Boca Chica sacred, has been ignored while they lose access to their ancestral heritage,” the club stated.
The lawsuit was first filed by Save RGV in October 2021, and the Sierra Club and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas both announced they were joining May 5. The group is asking for the court to invalidate the 2013 amendment.
The group also alleges that the approximately 27-mile (43 kilometer) Highway 4 in the area has been closed for SpaceX operations, but did not say in their May 5 statement how much of the highway has been closed or how often.
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