For a second time, Cameron County Commissioners Court discussed SpaceX matters behind closed doors but took no formal action.
After going into executive session for more than one and a half hours Tuesday, commissioners court tabled four items related to the Boca Chica site that include consideration and adoption of an order to abandon a portion of Remedios Avenue, Joanna Street, Annette Street and Lucero Court, all roadways located near the SpaceX Boca Chica site, and a resolution related to SpaceX.
Cameron County Pct. 3 Commissioner David A. Garza motioned that the items be tabled because members of the public were not given access to supporting documents for the items on the agenda.
“We were under the impression as Commissioners Court that the backup to those items had been included in the posting of our agenda, since it was not—in all due respect to all the folks that would like to see the backup information, before we vote on it—I move that we table those items for two weeks,” Garza said.
Commissioners Court voted unanimously in favor of tabling the items.
The next meeting is scheduled for July 19.
Prior to Commissioners Court tabling the matters, the court heard from two community members who said they were against the resolution being passed. The agenda item pertaining to the resolution read, “Consideration and possible action to adopt a resolution regarding SpaceX Super Heavy Project at Boca Chica Beach.”
Rebekah Hinojosa said, “I don’t the specifics of the resolution. I emailed the county clerk. I put in a public info request. I don’t know exactly what the purpose is, but I am here to speak against a resolution what I assume is supporting SpaceX.”
Hinojosa said the mitigating Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) the FAA authorized are inadequate and don’t address several community concerns, such as some forms being presented to residents were only in English and not also in Spanish.
Juan Mancillas said lack of knowledge by officials about the history of the land that SpaceX wants to use is concerning.
“We are concerned about the usage of SpaceX and where they are sitting and the pad that was put there, and how it continues to be abusive,” he told the commission.
Mancillas said the land near and around SpaceX contains burial sites.
“We know that because we have the archaeological data, and we also have the documentation that connects us to this area,” he said.
Commissioners first tabled the items during its June 21 meeting, and Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. said at that time he could not disclose why the items were tabled because it was a topic of executive session.
“We want to make sure everything that needs to be done has been done and address any questions or concerns that may have been raised,” he said then.
The Federal Aviation Administration in June released the results of its Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of SpaceX’s orbital launch plans for the company’s Boca Chica site.
The agency issued a mitigated Finding of No Significant Impact, which puts SpaceX a step closer to conducting the first orbital launch of a Starship-Super Heavy prototype at Boca Chica, though it does not automatically grant SpaceX a launch license, which is obtained through a separate process with a decision still pending, according to the FAA.
The orbital launch would be many times more powerful than the non-orbital Starship test flights that have taken place so far at Boca Chica. Those launches involved prototypes fitted with only three engines, while the Super Heavy booster would be fitted with 33 Raptor V2 engines, each capable of producing 500,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.
The FAA said that it will require SpaceX to take more than 75 actions to mitigate environmental impacts from the proposed orbital launches.
