Abbott says a sale of Boca Chica State Park land to SpaceX is not headed for a vote soon; parks agency says it is off the November agenda

Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday that a possible sale of Boca Chica State Park land to SpaceX will not come before the state's parks commission for a vote any time soon, The Texas Tribune reported.

The question surfaced last week when Texas Monthly reported that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission, whose members Abbott appoints, intended to talk about selling roughly 1,300 acres of state-owned land in Cameron County behind closed doors at its Nov. 5 meeting. SpaceX was reported to be the potential buyer of land that includes the park.

What officials are saying

At a Monday news conference, Abbott said he knew little about the idea. "What I know is that that's not coming up for a vote anytime soon," he said, according to the Tribune. He said his priority was making sure the state honored the laws he had signed and pointed to new parkland the state has been adding.

Stephanie Garcia, a spokesperson for the parks department, told Texas Monthly that the commission "is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting."

SpaceX and the department did not immediately comment to the Tribune, and Cameron County officials could not be reached.

Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor and a Brownsville native, opposed any sale and criticized Abbott's ties to SpaceX owner Elon Musk. "Let me be clear: Texas is not for sale," she said. Early voting in the governor's race is underway.

Earlier land deals

The park spans over 1,055 acres of dunes, marsh and coastal grassland along the Gulf, about three miles north of the mouth of the Rio Grande. SpaceX picked the remote area for a rocket test site in 2014 and has since bought private land around it.

In 2024 the commission approved a swap that would have given SpaceX 43 acres of the park in exchange for 477 acres next to Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, but the company later pulled out of that deal.

Environmental groups say the launches have harmed wildlife and habitat and have sued state and federal agencies to keep more land from going to the company, mostly without success. Last month a federal judge declined to stop the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from trading SpaceX 715 acres in a nearby refuge for 683 privately owned acres beside another refuge, the Tribune reported.

Sources

The Texas Tribune