Behind the Black 9/1/2026
The Brownsville city council yesterday unanimously agreed to a SpaceX offer to pay the city $220 million plus provide it water plus wastewater removal, in exchange for giving the company 445 acres where it could establish its own port for its Starship barges, the first of which is shown on the right as it arrived in Texas in June.
The funding will be used for two projects, including a wastewater reclamation project that will provide an additional 8 million gallons per day; and an expansion of a water plant owned by the Southmost Regional Water Authority in Brownsville which is expected to increase water supply by approximately 10 million gallons per day. The city currently uses about 21 million gallons per day — 70% of that comes from the Rio Grande while the rest is produced through their groundwater water desalination plant. “This investment will allow us to reduce or completely eliminate our reliance on the Rio Grande River,” Brownsville Mayor John Cowen Jr. told the Tribune on Monday. “So if the Rio Grande River goes dry for any reason, we are assured water sustainability for generations to come.”
… The deannexed land, tucked between the city’s landfill and other industrial activity, is strategic for SpaceX, giving the company access to the Brownsville ship channel. The majority of the property is zoned for heavy industrial use while the rest is zoned for agriculture, Cowen said. By deannexing the land, the city will no longer have the authority to zone the property for specific uses. “I believe that they will be producing their Starship rockets at Starbase, and then transporting them through this property to be transported, via barge, to Louisiana,” Cowen said.
More:
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/brownsville-agrees-to-spacex-deal-giving-the-company-445-acres-in-exchange-for-water-and-money/
