WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas allowed a land exchange to proceed between the U.S. Government and SpaceX in South Texas.
The court denied a preliminary injunction request by environmental and wildlife conservation groups to prevent U.S. Fish and Wildlife from awarding 727 acres of public land in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX in exchange for 683 acres of private land that is adjacent to another refuge.
The court dismissed an Emergency Injunction suit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Save RGV, the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, and the South Texas Environmental Justice Network, finding that 'the plaintiffs failed to establish an injury in fact to support standing and they failed to establish irreparable harm.'
The conservation groups pleaded that the refuge parcels could be permanently transferred to SpaceX if the deal is executed, accelerating industrial expansion into one of the most ecologically important landscapes in South Texas.
'This land exchange is a win-win for the American people that achieves significant benefits for conservation and national security,' said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of ENRD. 'The United States will acquire several hundred acres of high-quality habitat in the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge that the Fish and Wildlife Service seeks to protect, and SpaceX will acquire land with a lower biological value that will help it achieve its mission for NASA and the Air Force,' he added.
'This court order is not the final word,' Laiken Jordahl, a public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. 'These lands hold incredible spiritual, historical and conservation value for the people and wildlife of South Texas. We won't stop fighting to keep this irreplaceable public wildlife refuge safe from SpaceX bulldozers.'
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
