Special to El Rrun-Rrun
Various Sources
In the end, Elon Musk's SpaceX held all the cards.
They had:
*A Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the City and SpaceX, Brownsville Public Utilities Board (BPUB), and Southmost Regional Water Authority (SWRA), to provides an initial $40 million escrow contribution followed by six quarterly payments of $30 million, for a maximum contribution of $220 million.
* An agreement that include potable reuse and wastewater reclamation capable of increasing water supply by approximately 8 million gallons per day, as well as an SRWA plant expansion capable of increasing supply by approximately 10 million gallons per day.
* Promises that additional water capacity expected to strengthen the community’s long-term water supply, support residential and economic growth, and provide greater resilience as demand increases.
* A chance for the city to increase SRWA production from 7.5 million gallons per day to 10 million gallons per day, with a long-term goal of reaching 20 million gallons per day. The initial optimization is estimated at approximately $46.8 million, while the potential 20-million-gallon-per-day expansion is estimated at approximately $202 million.
Photo Brownsville Herald
* A warning from SpaceX to commissioners that the company would only provide money to the water infrastructure projects if commissioners passed an ordinance formalizing the disannexation of approximately 444.45 acres, along with adjacent right-of-way, from the City’s corporate and extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) boundaries. The property is located in Cameron County and is in the ordinance as part of Tract A, Share 7 of the San Martin Grant. the same night.* SpaceX Vice President of Starship Legal and Regulatory Sheila McCorkle dispassionately and succinctly confirmed that the $220 million for critical water projects would be off the table unless commissioners voted for disannexation that night.
* City staff told commissioners of the difficulty of securing funding for water projects at a time when drought endangers the future of the city’s water supply and when the Texas Water Development Board has $1 billion in project grants to disperse each year but receives $50 billion worth of proposals, officials said.
* SpaceX was in the process of closing on the purchase of the disannexed area from a private land owner. The vote came a few days before the commission is set to decide on Tuesday whether to adopt a moratorium on data centers in the city. Now, since the area will be disannexed by Brownsville, it will be up to Starbase to decide whether it will approve the construction of a data center there.
Dozens of speakers during the public comment portion, both for and against the agreement and disannexation. Supporters praised SpaceX’s economic contributions to the region while opponents expressed concern over environmental damage caused by the company and what some called bully tactics to push the disannexation forward.
(Rumors circulating among local construction contractors indicate that SpaceX may be in the beginning stages of constructing a data center on the land, a move that now rests in the hands of Starbase, and outside the control of the City of Brownsville, which still supplies water to Starbase and SpaceX launches.)
“Why are we rushing this? Why are we here on a Saturday?” one resident told a local braodcaster. “Why can’t we know what they’re going to do with the land? They say Starbase is a company town, but I fear we are becoming one, too.”
“Why are we rushing this? Why are we here on a Saturday?” one resident told a local braodcaster. “Why can’t we know what they’re going to do with the land? They say Starbase is a company town, but I fear we are becoming one, too.”
And – despite the overwhelming disapproval by the majority of the audience – the City of Brownville commissioners held nothing but one vote a piece. They folded.
The result?
Commissioners voted unanimously late Saturday night to voluntarily disannex more than 444 acres of land at the request of SpaceX after a tense, six-hour special meeting resulting in the $220 million agreement with the trillion-dollar aerospace company that held them over a rapidly emptying water barrel.
6 comments:
It's not land, it's White Boy Sand. . .It's not water, it's White Boy Tea! It's not immigration, it's the White Boy Great Replacement and SpaceX should be scared of us because we can close their shit down, if they don't comply with Texas environmental standards.
THAT'S WHY I'M VOTING FOR JAMES TALARICO AND GINA HINOJOSA!
Where is all this extra water coming from? Desalination? That is a slippery slope because you must dispose of a number of toxic chemicals and heavy metals and the salt, itself toxic when concentrated. If you just dump that stuff into the ocean you will change the immediate environment.
WHERE were all these concerned citizens when TREVINO and the county commissioners approved SPACE X? I am against the sell of my town but you need more than a fill the room crowd. VOCANO ship in the 80's was runned out of town because THE CITY, the COUNTY and citizens from Mcallen, to Brownsville and Matamoros protested loud and clear, voted them out. Now, in the name of progress $$$$ people go to the launches, applaud and say jobs when most of his employees are NOT locals. Lets see what happens in November.
I am laughing my ass off at you Brownsville people! You all are so use to corruption that you accept it as normal. This is proof that every city commissioner is corrupt. PUB? Hilarious! Another Tenaska deal. You Fk’n idiots!
They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. MAGA keep an eye on your pets. 🤪
What did Gu$ DeLeon vote for....
Post a Comment