Key points
- Gina Hinojosa's request to Texas Parks and Wildlife
- The price floated for SpaceX and Boca Chica land
- SpaceX's earlier Boca Chica land swap
- What Texas law requires for a park sale
Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said Thursday that she asked the state parks agency to take no action on public land near Boca Chica Beach during her transition. SpaceX (SPCX) has been reported as the prospective buyer of the land, which sits near its Starbase site in Cameron County.
Hinojosa said at her first news conference since defeating Gov. Greg Abbott that she contacted the executive director of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that morning. She said she confirmed the matter wasn't on Thursday's agenda. She didn't say whether the department agreed to her request. Hinojosa is scheduled to be sworn in on Jan. 19.
Texas was reportedly weighing a sale
Texas Monthly reported in October that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission planned to discuss selling 1,300 acres in Cameron County in a closed session of its Nov. 5 meeting. It said sources named SpaceX as the prospective buyer.
Forrest Wilder, the Texas Monthly writer, told Texas Standard: "Reportedly, $26 million, that was the price that I heard that was floated." We found no confirmation of that price from the state or SpaceX.
The department told Texas Monthly that the commission "is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting." Abbott said on Oct. 19, "What I know is that that's not coming up for a vote anytime soon." SpaceX didn't respond to the Texas Tribune's request for comment on its Oct. 31 story.
The Tribune reviewed a draft agenda for a closed-door discussion of 1,300 acres in Cameron County. The item was later pulled from the final agenda. On Oct. 30, the department asked the Texas attorney general to block the release of the draft.
The Tribune puts Boca Chica State Park at about 1,060 acres, while Texas Standard says 1,300. The Tribune describes the draft item only as 1,300 acres in Cameron County, where the department owns nearly 500 parcels.
SpaceX has sought Boca Chica land before
In 2024, the commission approved a deal that would have given SpaceX 43 acres of the park in exchange for 477 acres next to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge. SpaceX later withdrew from that deal. Starbase annexed more than 7,100 acres in September, though annexation doesn't give the city ownership of the land.
SpaceX's IPO prospectus says, "Development, manufacturing, testing, and launch of Starship currently takes place at Starbase." It also warns that land use and coastal management requirements for its launch facilities may lead to litigation or permitting disputes. Those actions, it says, "could delay launches, restrict operations, increase compliance costs or otherwise adversely affect our business." We looked separately at what Democrats' wins could mean for a Tesla and SpaceX merger.
What a sale would need
Texas law lets the department's director sell land, with commission approval, if ownership is no longer in the department's best interest. Money from a sale must be used to improve or buy other land dedicated to the same purpose as the land sold. A final vote would have to take place in open session, the Tribune reported. The commission has nine governor-appointed members with staggered terms.
A separate law applies when a state or local government approves a project requiring the use or taking of designated public park land. After notice and a hearing, officials must find that there is no feasible and prudent alternative and that the project includes all reasonable planning to minimize harm to the land. The reporting we reviewed doesn't establish whether the rule would apply to a sale.
Hinojosa campaigned against a sale, saying, "Let me be clear: Texas is not for sale." She also campaigned on a moratorium on new data center construction. Hinojosa didn't say Thursday what her administration might do about the land once she takes office.
