SpaceX’s Starship 24 test spaceship and Super Heavy Booster 7 at the company’s Starbase launch tower in Texas ahead of a launch wet dress rehearsal. (Image: SpaceX)
Read more Average price for gas under $4 for the first time since March
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that environmental groups cannot sue to preserve access to public access to a beach that’s been closed during rocket launches.
In a unanimous decision, the court sided with SpaceX and the attorney general, saying the lower court’s dismissal of the case was correct.
SaveRGV sued the Texas General Land Office, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Cameron County in 2021 arguing that the closure of State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach during SpaceX launches interfered with beach access rights of its members. The lawsuit was eventually taken up by the attorney general’s office, while the Sierra Club and Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas joined SaveRGV.
The groups argued that the beach closure violated the Texas Constitution. The constitution was amended in 2009 to guarantee public access and use of state beaches.
In the opinion, Justice Rebeca Huddle wrote that the Constitutional amendment “constitutionalized the public’s right to beach access, but it did not expand or confer on private citizens a right of enforcement.”
Read more Teething toy, sold on Amazon, recalled after choking reports
Other challenges to SpaceX in Texas
The challenge to open beach access isn’t the only challenge to SpaceX’s operation on Boca Chica Beach.
Last week, SaveRGV, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Carrizo/Comecrudo tribe and South Texas Environmental Justice Network filed a federal lawsuit challenging a land exchange between SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The exchange would give SpaceX around 700 acres of national wildlife refuge land in exchange for 683 acres of private land along Boca Chica Beach and near Laguna Heights.
FWS said the exhange allows them to divest in lands that would be impacted by SpaceX’s operation for land that is desirable for habitation.
Read more World Cup: What you need to know about USA vs Australia