Digital subscribers can listen to this article.
Subscribe today for unlimited access to Texas Monthly. Already a subscriber? Log in.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission has been discussing the sale of Boca Chica State Park, Texas Monthly has learned. The deliberations were far along enough that the commission planned to take up the sale of “1,300 acres” in Cameron County during a closed-door executive session at a meeting on November 5, two days after the election, according to a draft agenda of the commission meeting. Two sources familiar with internal discussions of the potential sale said Elon Musk’s SpaceX is the prospective buyer and confirmed that the 1,300-acre property in question is the beachfront state park, which is adjacent to Musk’s burgeoning Starbase facility, near Brownsville.
After Texas Monthly inquired about the meeting and Musk as the potential buyer, Stephanie Garcia, a Parks and Wildlife spokesperson, issued a brief statement: “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting.” As of press time, Garcia had not responded to follow-up questions about the discussions over the sale of the park, Musk’s involvement, why the November 5 agenda had apparently changed, and whether the issue has been tabled indefinitely. Sources said the item could instead be taken up by the nine commissioners—all appointees of Governor Greg Abbott—at a later date.
The move comes as Abbott, Ken Paxton, and other Texas Republicans face unusually close races, with polls showing Abbott’s opponent, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, within striking distance. Musk, the world’s richest man, has pumped a reported $158 million into a super PAC backing Paxton’s flailing campaign. Musk’s own super PAC is also instructing canvassers to tar Hinojosa over her record on transgender issues, according to The New York Times. Hinojosa has blasted Abbott for engaging in “crony capitalism that is enriching multinational corporation CEOs like Elon Musk,” reported Hearst Newspapers. SpaceX recently asked the Federal Aviation Administration to approve an increase in the number of rocket launches per year from 25 to 456 at its South Texas site.
“It stinks,” said Luke Metzger, the executive director of advocacy group Environment Texas, of the potential sale. “It looks really bad. [Boca Chica is] very ecologically sensitive, a home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including a lot of endangered species, and so it really needs special protection. This is land that’s probably some of the most sensitive in the entire state.” Texas Parks and Wildlife purchased the land that became Boca Chica State Park in 1994 from The Nature Conservancy. Until 2023, the land was leased to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a unit of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The potential sale of one of the state’s roughly ninety state parks comes as Texas Parks and Wildlife has been buying and developing new parks thanks to a $1 billion fund approved by the Legislature and voters.
Bekah Hinojosa (no relation to the gubernatorial candidate), a Brownsville resident and cofounder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, said the potential sale would be a major escalation in what she calls SpaceX’s “hostile takeover” of Boca Chica Beach. “They are forcing SpaceX down our throats, but public land is not there for some billionaire to try to buy it and exploit it,” she said.
For years, Texas elected officials have bent over backward to accommodate Starbase’s launch site, which is surrounded by the state park. Last year lawmakers gave partial control of Boca Chica’s public beaches to Starbase, the city created by Musk’s employees. In 2024, Texas Parks and Wildlife agreed to give 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX in exchange for 477 acres near Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. SpaceX pulled out of the deal but is now pursuing a bigger land swap with the federal government.
This summer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed off on a plan to give SpaceX 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, which borders the SpaceX site, in exchange for 683 acres of private holdings adjacent to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, farther up the Texas coast. The state park and wildlife refuges protect some of the last remnants of habitat and wildlife, including the endangered ocelot, that were once abundant in South Texas. Migratory birds and other animals are already contending with the industrial activity next door at SpaceX—lights, errant fires, loud noises, and periodic failed launches that rain debris and shrapnel down on the neighboring refuges.
The potential sale, Metzger said, “raises questions for me about the political influence of Elon Musk muscling his way into getting this land to expand operations.”