SpaceX is contemplating its next location to launch its super awesome rockets. The verdict is Boca Chica Beach strategically located right at the tip of South Texas!

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This ideal space launch location is just a few miles east of Brownsville, Texas and is just a hop, skip and jump away from my favorite Texas beach getaway, South Padre Island! With some thoughtful insight into the future, and mindfully choosing not to succumb to any premature opposition, I fully welcome and support the awesome possibility! Not only did I grow up in the the Rio Grande Valley but my son, Caiden and I would have one more reason to visit South Padre Island during our yearly visits. As mother and son, we love to play space and rockets. Caiden is three years old and is in absolute awe of big machines, tractors, rockets and the noise they make! Anyone with a son around three would understand this. On any typical day, Caiden is found running around the house building rockets from Lego’s, empty cartons of milk, markers, blocks…anything he can get his hands on. Making rocket noises and animating launches with his make-believe Lego rockets is one sign out of many that leads me to believe that Caiden would love to visit this potential launch pad while visiting Grandma Pam in the RGV. However, this dream vacation is not the only reason why I am advocating for this project.

Why do I support SpaceX and it’s possible launch site near Brownsville, Texas?

South Padre Island, December 2012. The island during this time of year is free of tourists, boasts mild temps, lacks humidity and best of all is open for free play and exploration.

Brownsville and the Rio Grande Valley needs a higher employment rate and it would increase tourism for the area. My mother and family live in the RGV and I visit SPI about three times a year. During those visits, I notice that the peak tourism is obviously Spring Break and Summer Break. Tourism dies down the other eight months out of the year and I see the struggle that this inconsistent tourism brings. Moving this project forward would revive the area into a booming tourist hot-spot. I can’t even imagine the type of positive growth this could mean for SPI and the RIO GRANDE VALLEY.

Who opposes the SpaceX spaceport project?

Obviously, there are those in opposition. The one in opposition is an environmentalist named Luke Metzger and is basically jumping the gun and driving moral down for this potential opportunity even before all the data is even available to the public. This particular action reminded me of my time attending, The University of Texas. During my time at UT, I noticed more than a few righteous environmentalist people standing around “The Drag” all day long getting people to sign their latest petition. You know the kind, the kind that have nothing better to do then to just stand around aimlessly, nagging those around them and basically drawing out as much guilt out of innocent bystanders as they possibly could then using this tactic to convince people in signing a petition they were not fully educated about.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department opposes this project because of the proposed site’s proximity to endangered animals and other wildlife. Director, Luke Metzger of Environment Texas, said he has also contacted other environmental organizations to join him in urging the company to choose another site. Never noticing the bigger picture, these “environmental groups” think that opposing this project is contributing to, “the better good.” Those who oppose SpaceX, should look at the beneficial effects that Cape Canaveral brought to the central Florida coast and that is attracting a clean high tech industry into an area that has so much to offer the world.

Who in Texas supports the SpaceX project?

Not all people in Texas share Metzger’s negative viewpoint. Cameron County officials and the Brownsville Economic Development Council want to lock-down this major project and have said this will bring hundreds of jobs and have a significant economic impact in the area. With the exception of Environment Texas and Texas Parks and Wildlife, the space pad project has overwhelming support from the Lone Star State.

The Houston Chronicle noted that, “the project is eliciting a financial support package from the Texas government. Furthermore, a recent public meeting on the project in Brownsville held by the Federal Aviation Administration found near universal support for the space port, including the jobs it would bring, from the local community.”

The FAA is undergoing an Environmental Impact Report for this project before giving the final nod. It is premature to begin a petition before the FAA had time to finish their environmental report and bring that report public.

Why should SpaceX choose Boca Chica Beach in South Texas as a new launch site?

This is a current picture that was taken during my yearly visit to S.P.I. What you see is the jetties at Boca Chica State Park which lies directly across from the potential launch site. What a beautiful setting to watch future launches!

SpaceX would benefit in that they would have a launch pad close to the equator (which consequently saves fuel) and the Rio Grande Valley would benefit economically and educationally in that it would draw in the brightest engineers of this century to the RGV area as well as offer a peek into our inevitable future as a society. This future is ultimately a thriving community that has various opportunities to educate themselves in regards to oceanography, botany, space and technology at their fingertips. Hopefully, SpaceX will chose Boca Chica Beach for it’s next launch pad site as the company will be able to recruit solid employees that are eager to work and learn about a technology that has been historically out of reach for the them. It would also benefit the company to hire “innovative and experienced engineers” from out of the valley. Since the cost of living is so low, recruitment of the most talented and brightest scientists would not be difficult. Employees of SpaceX would be ecstatic in knowing that a beautiful 5,000 sq feet family home can be bought in the RGV for well under $300,0000 and with a beautiful beach community on a barrier island within a 15 minute drive…who could beat that! If SpaceX chooses this location they will have a work force that will enjoy a great level of satisfaction in their lifestyle.

Reflect

When making huge decisions like this it is important to realize that the impact is huge and interferring with a potentially positive impact to a community is dangerous and irresponsible. I encourage Environment Texas to stop this petition and allow people to educate themselves on the positive and negative repercussions of this project.

Questions and Statements for Environment Texas

• When was the last time you visited Brownsville, TX?
• Have you seen what goes on down there?…it’s not Austin!
• The problem is the pollution from the other side (Mexico) which has not changed since I was a kid about (twenty years ago).
• Boca Chica Beach is the best place for this site given the location and the factors that tie into living around a border town.
• Have you been to the Padre Island National Seashore just a few miles North of Boca Chica Beach?
• It’s a beautiful (untouched by man) 70 mile stretch of beach land from SPI to Corpus Christi and it’s completely isolated…a great place for a bird sanctuary.
• I too, like birds and want to preserve their homes. I just don’t think that Boca Chica beach is the only option for a bird sanctuary.

• With SpaceX occupying the area it would curtail illegals from crossing the border within that area. SpaceX would be doing the Federal government a big favor by constructing their spaceport at Boca Chica.
• Please read this article regarding area border patrol in Cameron County requesting help from the Federal government. Federal Observer

I would like the skeptics to look at the data before coming to a false conclusion and organizing a plethora of environmental zombie recruits for a petition that could be a potentially very prosperous project for the citizens of the Rio Grande Valley.

Compare the cities

• There are 6 major polluters in Brownsville, Texas – Home Facts – Environmental Hazards, Brownsville, TX
• There are 2 major polluters in Cape Canaveral, Florida – Home Facts – Environmental Hazards, Cape Canaveral, Florida

*An added bonus, SpaceX plans to reuse its rockets.
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This is my hometown, South Padre Island

Yes, I took this pic with my iPhone! It was taken December 17, 2012 at Boca Chica State Park on South Padre Island. Weather was at its happiest. Sunny, blue skies and 73 degrees