According to a Texas Monthly investigation published earlier this month, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has been considering selling about 1,300 acres of public land, including Boca Chica State Park, to SpaceX. The department says the proposal won’t come up at its November meeting, and Gov. Greg Abbott has said a sale isn’t imminent. But neither has ruled it out in the future.
A 2024 New York Times investigation found that SpaceX chose a site surrounded by protected public lands and relied on those parks and refuges as buffers. Those lands have absorbed the damage. After a 2023 launch, concrete chunks and other debris landed on wildlife habitat, state parkland and beaches. The Times documented at least 19 incidents involving fires, leaks, explosions or other problems since 2019. After a June 2024 launch, researchers found broken or missing eggs in all nine shorebird nests they monitored near the launchpad.
Boca Chica State Park isn’t the only public land at risk. A judge ruled in September that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could proceed with transferring about 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX in return for about 683 acres of company-owned land. Federal officials say the exchange would consolidate fragmented refuge lands and improve habitat protection. But their own environmental assessment acknowledges that the transferred land could be developed and would no longer be open to the public. It also cites disturbance from SpaceX’s operations as a reason the refuge lands have lost conservation value. Industrial activity that degrades protected habitat shouldn’t become the reason to hand that land to the company responsible.
Texas has been here before. In 2023, the loss of Fairfield Lake State Park to private development caused public outrage and helped build support for the $1 billion Centennial Parks Conservation Fund, which voters overwhelmingly approved to create and expand state parks. Texans made clear that as the state grows, we need more protected natural places, not fewer.
Space exploration is an extraordinary human achievement, pushing the boundaries of science and expanding our understanding of the universe. But reaching for the stars shouldn’t mean sacrificing the natural wonders here on Earth. We can celebrate space exploration while protecting the public lands and wildlife that make Boca Chica special.
Gov. Abbott and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission should state plainly that Boca Chica State Park is not for sale. State parks belong to all Texans, not only those who can afford to buy them.
Luke Metzger is executive director of Environment Texas, a nonprofit working to protect the natural world.