SpaceX wins OK to build plant that creates liquid oxygen for rockets near South Texas beach

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BROWNSVILLE — Cameron County has given SpaceX the green light to build an air separator facility, which will be located less than 300 feet from the region’s sand dunes, frustrating locals concerned about the impact on vegetation and wildlife.

The commissioners voted, 3-1, to give Elon Musk’s rocket company a beachfront construction certificate and dune protection permit, allowing the company to build a modern-day factory akin to an oil refinery to produce gases needed for space flight launches.

The plant will consist of 20 structures on 1.66 acres. The enclosed site will include a tower that will reach 159 feet, or about 15 stories high, much shorter than the nearby launch tower, which stretches 480 feet high. It is set to be built about 280 feet inland from the line of vegetation, which is where the dunes begin. The factory will separate air into nitrogen and oxygen. SpaceX utilizes liquid oxygen as a propellant and liquid nitrogen for testing and operations.

By having the facility on site, SpaceX hopes to make the delivery of those gases more efficient by eliminating the need to have dozens of trucks deliver them from Brownsville. The company says they need more than 200 trucks of liquid nitrogen and oxygen delivered for each launch, a SpaceX engineer told the county during a meeting last week.

With their application, SpaceX submitted a plan to mitigate expected negative effects on 865 square feet of dune vegetation and 20 cubic yards of dunes, as well as compensate for expected permanent impacts to 7,735 square feet of dune vegetation and 465 cubic yards of dunes.

While the project will be built on property owned by SpaceX, the county holds the authority to manage the construction that affects Boca Chica's dunes.

SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

The county approved the permit with several stipulations. Chief among them is restoration. SpaceX must either restore or replace each dune that is destroyed, leaving the affected coastal area as good or better than it was before. If SpaceX is found to have failed in those efforts, the Texas General Land Office could take enforcement action in the form of civil penalties.

The county will be tasked with monitoring whether the company has met the requirements.

However, several residents and SpaceX critics were unsatisfied with the information provided by SpaceX about the project and how the company would mitigate damage to the vegetation. Additionally, some were frustrated by the window of time allotted for public input and urged the commissioners to table the item and provide 30 days of notice for a public hearing.

The commissioners pushed ahead, noting they had already tabled the item during a previous meeting.

Augusto Sanchez, the Cameron County director of natural resources, said the residents’ concerns were valid but reiterated that efforts would be made to mitigate disturbances to the environment. He added that his department worked with the company to shift construction westward. The project was initially proposed to be built 230 feet from the line of vegetation but that has since been moved another 50 feet inland.

Bill Berg, a member of Save RGV, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group that has continually opposed SpaceX’s expanded footprint in the area, lamented that residents’ comments during the meeting didn’t seem to make a difference.

“I think that it’s clearly true today how the government of Cameron County is kind of falling over to please SpaceX,” Berg said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: Texas General Land Office has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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