Conservation and tribal groups filed an emergency injunction July 20 to block a land swap between SpaceX and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Texas. The deal would transfer 727 acres of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX in exchange for 683 acres of company land. The plaintiffs -- the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network -- argue the swap violates the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, since part of the land is near Palmito Ranch Battlefield.
SpaceX wants the refuge land near Starbase, its launch facility for Starship. The company has conducted 12 suborbital test flights to date and has Flight 13 scheduled for July 23. According to the Center for Biological Diversity, a 2024 study found that after one launch, every monitored shorebird nest near the launch site suffered egg damage or loss. The plaintiffs say USFWS is using this harm as justification to hand the degraded land to SpaceX rather than enforce protections or require the company to mitigate damage.
The groups also challenge how quickly USFWS moved on the deal. Internal planning began in April 2025, months before the swap became public in March, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. USFWS developed "the most expedited schedule possible" and recommended hiring additional staff to meet an "optimum timeframe" for transfer.
The lower Rio Grande Valley refuge spans 90,000 acres. SpaceX views Starship -- billed as the largest and most powerful launcher ever built and designed for rapid reusability -- as essential to its operations. The emergency injunction requests a federal judge halt the exchange until courts can rule on the ongoing lawsuit.