Save Boca Chica Beach

Surfrider is concerned about the potential environmental and community impacts of Space X's proposed Starship Super Heavy rocket launch program's Boca Chica Launch Site. The site is surrounded by national wildlife refuge land, state park land, carbon-storing tidal flats that host many wading bird species, sea turtle nesting beaches, and popular shorelines for the community of Brownsville and surrounding areas. It is also sacred land of the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, the original people of the Boca Chica region. These critical resources, including endangered species such as the piping plover and the Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, would be threatened by this proposed project. 

SpaceX’s proposed Starship Super Heavy program consists of suborbital and orbital launches from its facilities. The proposal includes launch-related activities, such as tank tests, static fire engine tests, and expansion of the vertical launch area and solar farm. It incorporates the construction of infrastructure, including parking lots, a launch pad and landing pad, a payload processing facility, integration towers and support buildings, and trenching and pull-offs along State Highway 4. Testing and launches are expected to result in high overpressure levels, sonic booms, intense sound, shock waves and debris that could be damaging to people and wildlife.

SpaceX also proposes to close State Highway 4 for up to 800 hours annually. The highway is the only public roadway connecting Brownsville and surrounding communities to Boca Chica Beach, the nearby state park land, and the National Wildlife Refuge. The proposed 800 hours of closure is nearly three times more than the 300 hours currently permitted for closure. This would be akin to closing Highway 4 for five hours per day, Monday through Friday, for 32 weeks, or more than half, of the year.

The Surfrider Foundation South Texas Chapter is working with local, statewide and national partners to advocate that this project is subject to a full environmental assessment, including the appropriate level of environmental review and regulation to ensure that the significant environmental, cultural and recreational resources at Boca Chica are protected.

Read the press release following FAA's decision not to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement

Recent media:

• Debris blast from SpaceX rocket launch renews environmental questions (Reuters, 4/27/23)
• SpaceX launch torched part of state park, sent debris flying, feds say (Washington Post, 4/26/23)