According to a Feb. 18, 2013 story in the Brownsville Herald, Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez met with SpaceX’s Elon Musk about the company’s proposed space port that could be located Boca Chica Beach, just east of the southernmost city in Texas on the Gulf Coast. The space port would launch SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and bring thousands of jobs to the impoverished Rio Grande Valley community.
The fact that Brownsville was on the short list for a private space port first came to light in June, 2012. Despite opposition from a local environmental group, the proposal has been met with overwhelming support from the local community as well as lawmakers in Austin and Gov. Rick Perry, who has personally met with Musk to lobby for the Texas space port.
Currently the status of the space port project is waiting on an environmental impact study being conducted by the FAA. The Texas State Legislature would have to pass a waiver to the state’s beach access law allowing for the closing of beaches and adjacent waters before and after each launch, scheduled to be once a month.
Not much has been reported about the meeting, except that Musk pronounced himself satisfied by the efforts of state and local officials to attract the space port. A decision by SpaceX is expected later in 2013.
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