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The vote was unanimous and it came late Saturday after six hours of public comment, closed executive session, the ejection of several people from the chamber, and intense deliberation by the Brownsville City Commission.
In the end, the commission voted to disannex 444 acres of land that SpaceX is in the process of purchasing. In exchange, SpaceX will give $220 million to fund two water infrastructure projects that would expand the region's supply, reported The Brownsville Herald.
- SpaceX Vice President of Starship Legal and Regulatory Sheila McCorkle told Brownsville the money was off the table unless commissioners voted Saturday.
- Once the land leaves the city, Brownsville's rules no longer apply to it, and SpaceX can develop it outside the city's control.
“This is bigger than all of us,” Mayor John Cowen Jr. told the Brownsville Herald. “This is about future generations being able to really survive here in Brownsville. We altered our normal process to be able to ensure the viability of our community.”
Across The Americas spoke with Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder at the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, a coalition of social justice and civic organizations based in the Rio Grande Valley. The group was present at the special session and said city leaders rushed through a bad water deal with SpaceX without transparency or meaningful public input.
- Hinojosa said residents only learned of the special meeting days before it happened, with no details provided in advance.
- She says key information about the water infrastructure projects were revealed for the first time only after public comment had already closed
“We've never had a town hall about water scarcity or the water drought for the community,” Hinojosa told ATA. “We've never been given the opportunity for residents to voice our concerns or offer solutions or feedback about water scarcity in the valley, and then out of nowhere, this private space corporation with a long history of pollution and even lying put pressure on the city to sign a deal.”
Editor's note: Across The Americas will publish a full interview with Hinojosa this week as well as more details about the SpaceX disannexation deal. Hit subscribe above to get updates.
BPUB said last year that the city has “enough time to plan”
Brownsville Public Utilities Board Chief Operating Officer Mark Dombroski told a McAllen infrastructure panel in November that the city has enough water to 2045, giving it time to plan.
- Dombroski told the panel that Brownsville can currently supply the water and power it needs.
- He said industrial growth on a scale the region hasn't seen is what will force major spending and long-range planning, the Rio Grande Guardian reported.
“We have enough water needs to the year 2045,” Dombroski told The Rio Grande Guardian last year. “While it’s 20 years, that gives us enough time to plan for the future.”
The two projects SpaceX plans to fund
Community reactions
Commissioner Tino Villarreal posted on social media on Sunday that he voted yes even though he didn't like how fast SpaceX pushed the deal. Villarreal asked the company to sign the water agreement first, or to give the city three more days, and it said no both times.
“That put the Commission in an extremely difficult position,” Villarreal said in his post. “In the end, I voted for what I believed gives Brownsville a resource that otherwise wouldn’t be possible, water security for generations.”
Reaction extended beyond Brownsville. Eric Holguín, the Rio Grande Valley-based state director for the advocacy group UnidosUS and a former candidate for state representative, criticized the vote on social media, also on Sunday.
“It's absolutely wild to me that the Brownsville City Commissioners caved to SpaceX faster than that submarine with billionaires in it. A complete dereliction of duty to the public,” Holguín said on social media. “In no reasonable, ethical, or professional world should a government entity vote to give away over 400 acres of property to a private company without properly reading or discussing the offer. Especially when that company threatened to pull it if the vote didn't happen within hours of the Commissioners receiving it.”
Media Coverage
Nadia Tamez-Robledo was at city hall to cover the story for The Brownsville Herald on Saturday. Her reporting includes how quickly the deal moved, from its arrival at the city about a week and a half earlier to the public presentation two hours before the vote.
Nadia Tamez-Robledo
Nine months before the SpaceX vote, BPUB's chief operating officer told a McAllen infrastructure panel what the expansion would cost and who is lining up for the region's water and power. Claudia Perez Rivas and Adrian Alfaro covered it for the Rio Grande Guardian.
Claudia Perez Rivas and Adrian Alfaro
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