Battle For Boca Chica: Activists Challenge SpaceX’s Impact On Sacred Land and Ecosystem

In Boca Chica, numerous organizations and activists are raising concerns that Elon Musk’s SpaceX is endangering the land’s fragile ecosystem and restricting access to the beach.

Recently, the Texas Tribune reported that ENTRE Film Center, a local film center and regional archive, hosted an event in Boca Chica to celebrate the beach and motivate people to fight for its preservation.

“This is the people’s beach, this is our beach,” Nansi Guevara, a visual artist, told the Tribune. “And we’re gonna fight to protect it.”

SpaceX has come under scrutiny from many organizations. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the potential environmental damage the company’s plan to increase rocket launches could cause.

Concerns about pollution and environmental degradation were also amplified by a recent CNBC report, which pointed out violations of the Clean Water Act at the site. SpaceX responded by stating that it is working with regulators to resolve any outstanding issues. Meanwhile, local environmentalists and groups like the South Texas Environmental Justice Network are pressing for stricter environmental reviews before allowing more rocket launches.

“SpaceX is an issue that’s constantly changing, that is getting rubber-stamped permits by regulatory agencies that have really broken processes,” said Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network.

Tribes who consider Boca Chica sacred land are also concerned about SpaceX. The Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe is suing the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department over a land-swap deal with SpaceX.

“SpaceX has always been polluting,” Christopher Basaldú, a member of the tribe, told the Tribune. “And I think people are kind of brainwashed into thinking that rockets –– constructing rockets, testing rockets and blowing up rockets –– that somehow that’s not causing pollution.”

Basaldú said it is possible to repair the damage the company has done to the ecosystem, but he said SpaceX’s operations in Boca Chica need to be dismantled.

“Shut it down, take it apart,” Basaldú said. “Human hands made it, built it; human hands can tear it down, too.”