Threatened With Prosecution, SpaceX Defends Its Activities in South Texas
Erik de la Garza
June 26, 2021
https://www.courthousenews.com/threaten ... uth-texas/
Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — A Texas district attorney’s threat to prosecute SpaceX over unauthorized road and beach closures and the overzealous actions of its private security guards has the Elon Musk-owned company defending its activities in the remote South Texas beach town of Boca Chica, where it launches rockets into outer space from a site it refers to as “Starbase.”
The complicated relationship between SpaceX and Cameron County, where Musk announced he would donate $30 million to schools and downtown revitalization, has been on full display in recent days after District Attorney Luis Saenz issued a warning letter following a complaint from environmental group Save RGV.
Spurred by multiple concerns from the non-profit group, the letter from the county’s top prosecutor to SpaceX outlined how the company could be in violation of at least two state laws: obstructing a highway or other passageway, a Class B misdemeanor, and impersonating a public servant, which is punishable by a third-degree felony in the Lone Star State.
The brouhaha took flight when staff from the district attorney’s office went to investigate the environmental group’s complaint when, according to the prosecutor’s office, a SpaceX security guard “immediately approached, stopped, and detained” them before exchanging words and ordering that they return to the highway.
If that conduct were to happen again, the district attorney warned, not only could the individual security guard be subject to prosecution, but the company could open itself up to criminal liability as well.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon 2 spacecraft lifts off on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for a re-supply mission to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida, June 3, 2021.
(AP Photo/John Raoux)