At least once each term the Texas Supreme Court chooses a case of special regional interest to hear in a public forum somewhere other than their usual courtroom in Austin.
This year they chose UT Rio Grande Valley's Edinburgh campus back in early March. The issue of interest was whether Texas is violating the state constitution by frequently closing Boca Chica Beach to allow SpaceX to conduct rocket launches.
Joe Pappalardo, who covered this story for Texas Monthly, said this is a constitutional issue because access to beaches is constitutionally protected in the state of Texas.
The Texas Legislature passed a provision that allows beach closures for spaceflight, which is part of what drew Elon Musk's company SpaceX to set up shop in the Lone Star State. This lawsuit, which is being led by Rio Grande Valley environmentalist and Indigenous groups, claims this permission violates the beach access clause in the state constitution.
"The phrase that caught my attention was the 'police power.' And that just doesn't mean the police department. That means zoning laws and fire code restrictions and local laws that allow or disallow certain things," Pappalardo said. "And how far does that police power go when it comes to economic development, fostering the economy, making sure that the beaches can be used for that greater good or that public good? The public good of economic growth was a direct argument made during this case."
Pappalardo said that depending on who you ask, Boca Chica Beach was either a hidden gem or an underused and forgotten little patch of coastline.
"It's next to the wildlife refuge and sea turtles and lots of birds use it. It's part of the migratory path of a lot of birds. It is a sensitive area, and to see rockets blasting off up and down… Because they land them there, too. And oftentimes they blow them up intentionally," he said.
"And then there's the accidents that have thrown debris into those right protected areas, so these images have made this sort of the front line of a lot of environmental activism in the whole state. The issue of public access extends well beyond the beach because if they can't shut that beach down, they can't launch from there."
Part of the oral arguments the court heard had to do with other circumstances when the local government might order beaches be closed.
"Let's say there's a giant storm coming or the beach conditions are dangerous and you say the beach is closed," Pappalardo said. "The other argument would be, well it's not a storm coming, it's a man-made risk that they're putting on the beach and that's the reason it has to be closed. You can't try to have it both ways. You can't invite the shark to come swimming and then and use that as an excuse to close the beach."
All nine of the justices that sit on the Texas Supreme Court are Republicans. Pappalardo said it is unclear exactly how that will factor into this case.
"It seemed to differ from justice to justice, exactly how much they were going to push back on the idea that the government can't do things to foster economic growth," he said.
"The experts had told me that they have to weigh the economics, they have to weigh the politics. They have to weigh the fact that NASA is counting on SpaceX to deliver a lander for their lunar lander, for their Artemis program. They're racing the Chinese. Some would call this a national security imperative — that's the language in D.C. And delays in this program are as good as cancellations. I mean, SpaceX needs to charge forward very, very quickly to meet any kind of deadline."
Pappalardo said he expects the court will release a decision in this case in June.
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