The Brief<\/p>\n
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that private groups do not have the right to sue over public beach access.<\/p>\n
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in 2021 seeking to stop the closure of Boca Chica Beach during rocket launches.<\/p>\n
Access to public beaches was codified in the Texas Constitution in 2009, but the Texas Supreme Court said that did not allow for a private citizens right of enforcement.<\/p>\n
The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that environmental groups cannot sue to preserve access to public access to a beach that’s been closed during rocket launches.<\/p>\n
In a unanimous decision, the court sided with SpaceX and the attorney general, saying the lower court’s dismissal of the case was correct.<\/p>\n
SaveRGV sued the Texas General Land Office, Commissioner Dawn Buckingham and Cameron County in 2021 arguing that the closure of State Highway 4 and Boca Chica Beach during SpaceX launches interfered with beach access rights of its members. The lawsuit was eventually taken up by the attorney general’s office, while the Sierra Club and Carrizo\/Comecrudo Nation of Texas joined SaveRGV.<\/p>\n
The groups argued that the beach closure violated the Texas Constitution. The constitution was amended in 2009 to guarantee public access and use of state beaches.<\/p>\n
In the opinion, Justice Rebeca Huddle wrote that the Constitutional amendment “constitutionalized the public’s right to beach access, but it did not expand or confer on private citizens a right of enforcement.”<\/p>\n
Other challenges to SpaceX in Texas<\/p>\n
The challenge to open beach access isn’t the only challenge to SpaceX’s operation on Boca Chica Beach.<\/p>\n