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A coalition of tribal, conservation, and environmental justice organizations has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop a land exchange that would transfer more than 700 acres of wildlife refuge land in South Texas to SpaceX.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, seeks to block the transfer of 715 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX in exchange for 683 acres of land the company owns near Boca Chica.
The plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network — argue the exchange violates federal laws governing the National Wildlife Refuge System and would result in the permanent loss of wildlife habitat and public access to refuge land.
"This is a bad deal for the American people," said Laiken Jordahl, public lands advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity. "It's a bad deal for the people who live in the Rio Grande Valley, and it will harm wildlife irreversibly."
Federal law requires wildlife refuge land exchanges to provide a net conservation benefit both to the individual refuge and to the refuge system as a whole. The lawsuit alleges that standard was not met.
"From the beginning, SpaceX has been a terrible neighbor to this wildlife refuge," Jordahl said. "Over the years they have actually degraded the ecological value of this refuge land."
The lawsuit cites rocket launches, explosions, debris impacts, and wildfires as evidence that SpaceX operations have harmed the refuge property slated for transfer. Environmental groups also cite a 2024 study they say found that every monitored shorebird nest near one launch site suffered egg damage or loss following a launch event.
Congress established the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in 1979 to protect wildlife habitat along the Rio Grande. The refuge includes habitat for endangered ocelots, aplomado falcons, piping plovers, red knots, green jays, and Altamira orioles. It contains some of the best remaining habitat for the endangered ocelot in the United States.
The groups argue that instead of addressing environmental damage they say was caused by SpaceX operations, federal officials are using the degraded condition of the land to justify transferring it to the company.
"Our protected public lands are being gifted for the benefit of the world's richest man, who could trash them while playing with his exploding rockets," said Jordahl.
The legal challenge also alleges violations of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act. Included in the proposed transfer are portions of the Palmito Ranch Battlefield National Historic Landmark, the site of the final battle of the Civil War.
Plaintiffs argue that transferring the land to private ownership could jeopardize preservation of the historic site and reduce public access. They also contend that much of the land proposed for transfer to the refuge does not provide comparable public access.
"The refuge is a national public treasure with immense ecological and cultural value," said Mary Angela Branch of Save RGV. "The tract being swapped to SpaceX, whose arrival here has been an unmitigated disaster, will permanently sever the very heart of the wildlife corridor established by Congress in 1979."
The lawsuit comes as SpaceX continues to expand its operations in South Texas and completed its initial public offering Thursday.. Since selecting the site for its launch facility in 2014, the company has built additional manufacturing facilities and launch infrastructure.
The FAA issued its final environmental approval in May 2025, allowing SpaceX to increase its authorized Starship launch cadence at Starbase from five launches per year to as many as 25 launches annually.
SpaceX did not respond to TPR's request for comment.
Bekah Hinojosa, co-founder of the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, said local residents have long opposed the company's growth near sensitive habitat.
"Elon Musk has built his explosive SpaceX facility in the middle of a major wildlife corridor home to endangered and threatened species like ocelots and wetlands," Hinojosa said. "There was never supposed to be space rockets blowing up here."
Jordahl said conservation groups would be open to a different proposal if it genuinely benefited the refuge.
"If they come back with a deal that actually does supply land of greater or equal conservation value, we would consider that," he said.
