Historic Marker of the Battle of Palmito Hill Delays Launch of Boca Chica SpaceX

Historical Marker of the Battle of Palmito Hill
Placed along Highway 4 near Boca Chica Beach

SpaceX may already be creating jobs for Cameron County. According to BEDC Director Jason Hilts, some within the Department of Interior worried that a commercial launch site at Boca Chica might break the atmosphere of tourists stopping at the historic marker on the south side of Highway 4 commemorating the Battle of Palmito Hill, the last known battle of the Civil War, fought May 12, 13 1865.  

The Department of Interior  estimated that 1,000 people per year stop at the historic marker to contemplate history.(Was the Department of Interior confusing 1,000 annual historical tourists with the "1,000" who ride the Battlefield Hike & Bike Trail daily into the City of Brownsville or just guesstimating?  

Operatives of Elon Musk, still waiting on the results of an environmental impact study that could open the door to Boca Chica SpaceX, paid workers to sit in shifts, counting how many stopped at the historic marker in the course of a day.  These workers, if Brownsville residents, may be the first gainfully employed by the space transport guru, though likely not at the $55,000 plus per year Gilbert Salinas of the Brownsville Economic Development Corporation predicted SpaceX would eventually employ "500" annually.   

BEDC Director Jason Hilts

Hilts reported at the 4/17/14 meeting of the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation, that the Musk-funded study showed that, on average, two cars stopped daily at the Battle of Palmito Hill Historical Marker on the south side of Texas State Highway 4, halfway between the Border Patrol checkpoint and the beach.  In only one of two cars, the study found, did a passenger get out of the car to read the historic plaque. Half the time, the car's passengers merely stopped to take a break without leaving their vehicle.  Hilts hopes the results of the study will contribute to a favorable ruling by the FAA and the Department of the Interior on the commercial launching pad.

Asked for more specifics after the GBIC meeting, Hilts stated that the commericial launch at Boca Chica would have only a "15 hour window," starting with the rocket "laying flat," unlike Cape Canaveral, where the rocket is already upright in the launch pad

SpaceX Launch

well before the launch."  Hilts was a bit bemused that the State of Texas would block launches on holidays like July 4 and Labor Day:  "Those would have been great days to observe launches," he stated.  

When asked if citizens would be prevented from accessing Highway 4 beyond the Border Patrol checkpoint on launch days, Hilts agreed:  "That would be the logical stopping point."