Musk Warns of 'Oppressive' Government as the Boca Chica Land Item Is Pulled at the Governor-Elect's Request
About 1,300 acres of state park land next to Starbase will not be discussed by parks commissioners for now — Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa asked that no action be taken before she takes office, and Elon Musk answered in public.
AUSTIN — The fight over the Texas coast's most watched piece of public land escalated this week, as Elon Musk warned of an 'oppressive' government after Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa moved to freeze a possible sale of state park land to his SpaceX, the New York Post reported on Monday.
The land in question is about 1,300 acres of Boca Chica State Park in Cameron County, directly adjacent to Starbase, SpaceX's Starship production and launch site. Hinojosa told reporters in Austin on Thursday that she had personally called the head of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to request that no action be taken on the possible sale while she prepares to take office in January. State parks commissioners had been scheduled to discuss the sale that same day; the item was pulled from the agenda at her request.
This station reported the governor-elect's transition request on November 5. What is new is the response: the pulled agenda item, and Musk's public warning — the first open clash between the incoming administration and the businessman whose Tesla and SpaceX operations made Texas their center, weeks before Hinojosa is sworn in.
The underlying proposal is older than the election. Texas Monthly first reported last month that the state was weighing the sale with SpaceX as the buyer, and Gov. Greg Abbott said at the time that no deal would come up for a vote anytime soon, according to the Post. With the item now pulled and the new governor opposed to acting before January, the land question lands squarely in the incoming administration's lap — along with the state's relationship with its highest-profile employer.
