Photo courtesy of Bekah Hinojosa
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is ignoring the Spanish-speaking community in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) and the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas to speed up approval for a license for SpaceX to launch the Starship/Super Heavy rocket. This is a blatant act of environmental racism toward our community, and we won’t stand for it.
Spanish speakers in the Rio Grande Valley have a right to be informed and participate in decision- making processes that directly affect them. SpaceX has had several rocket explosions which endangered local communities and littered Boca Chica with dangerous rocket debris. SpaceX operations have had negative impacts on the environment and wildlife in RGV, including the ecosystems on the coastline, turtle migration patterns, and continued threats to the endangered ocelot. Moreover, SpaceX operations have led to prolonged closures of Boca Chica beach, violating the Texas Constitution. Should the FAA grant SpaceX a license to launch the largest rocket in human history, the ramifications would be devastating as it would further damage Boca Chica’s coastal ecosystem, lead to even more beach closures, and harm surrounding communities.
Last October, the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club, Trucha RGV, Voces Unidas, Las Imaginistas, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, Another Gulf Is Possible Collaborative, and Resource Center Matamoros submitted a complaint to the FAA to demand that they restart the regulatory process for SpaceX because it was conducted poorly and did not include outreach to the Spanish-speaking community. The FAA failed to provide materials that would have allowed Spanish speakers to participate in the process, such as translated documents and 30-day public notices in Spanish, and they provided only terrible interpretation during the public hearing on Zoom. This is unacceptable in a region where about 80 percent of people speak primarily Spanish at home. RGV's many Spanish speakers deserve an equal ability to make their voices heard during this decision-making process. Doing so is a matter of justice -- language justice.
Additionally, neither the FAA nor SpaceX have ever consulted with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, the Native people of the region with sacred sites on Boca Chica that have been disturbed by rocket launch operations.
In January, members of these groups met once with the FAA Office of Civil Rights to present their demands:
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Restart the entire license review process to include Spanish language access for the community.
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This includes requiring the FAA to publish notice of public hearings and relevant permitting documents, such as the environmental assessment, in Spanish, and in a manner identical to notices and documents published in English; and to issue publication of public meeting notices at least 30 days prior to the scheduled public hearing/meeting date.
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Publish the approximately 17,000 comments that were submitted electronically during the public comment period.
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Provide professional interpretation services at public meetings and/or hearings where public notice must be provided in alternative languages. The delivery of these notices must be reasonably structured to assure that the person to whom it is directed receives it.
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Consult with the Carrizo/Comecrudo Tribe of Texas because they are the Native people of the region whose ancestral and unceded lands include Boca Chica Beach and the surrounding areas.
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Conduct a comprehensive environmental impact statement of current and future SpaceX operations.
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Consult with the Mexican government regarding the construction and operation of the SpaceX facility, because the Mexican town of Matamoros is a sister community to Brownsville, Texas, and the two share an airshed.
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Ultimately, we demand that all permits and licenses currently issued to SpaceX on behalf of the FAA be rescinded and denied because it is clear the operations have caused irreparable damage to wildlife and the Rio Grande Valley community.
It’s been months since our meeting with the FAA Office of Civil Rights, and so far we have not received any concrete response from their office. They have taken an excessive amount of time to respond. They have failed to respond with any plans for another meeting. And there have been no updates on any of our demands. Our team has been diligently following up to get another meeting planned, but with the June 13 decision date looming, it is beginning to seem more and more unlikely that they will follow through. Without language justice for the people who live here, agency actions evaluating SpaceX are illegitimate. The FAA must allow meaningful access to hearings in Spanish.
Sign our petition to let the FAA know that it is unacceptable for them to shut Spanish speakers out of this decision-making process!