(CN) --- A Texas district attorney’s threat to prosecute SpaceX over unauthorized road and beach closures and the overzealous actions of its private security guards has the Elon Musk-owned company defending its activities in the remote South Texas beach town of Boca Chica, where it launches rockets into outer space from a site it refers to as “Starbase.”
The complicated relationship between SpaceX and Cameron County, where Musk announced he would donate $30 million to schools and downtown revitalization, has been on full display in recent days after District Attorney Luis Saenz issued a warning letter following a complaint from environmental group Save RGV.
Spurred by multiple concerns from the nonprofit group, the letter from the county’s top prosecutor to SpaceX outlined how the company could be in violation of at least two state laws: obstructing a highway or other passageway, a Class B misdemeanor, and impersonating a public servant, which is punishable by a third-degree felony in the Lone Star State.
The brouhaha took flight when staff from the district attorney’s office went to investigate the environmental group’s complaint when, according to the prosecutor’s office, a SpaceX security guard “immediately approached, stopped, and detained” them before exchanging words and ordering that they return to the highway.
If that conduct were to happen again, the district attorney warned, not only could the individual security guard be subject to prosecution, but the company could open itself up to criminal liability as well.
“While SpaceX is a valued member of our community, this does not authorize SpaceX, its employees, staff, agents, and/or contractors to disregard Texas law,” Saenz wrote to the company June 11.
Days after receiving the letter, SpaceX officials met with staff from the district attorney’s office in an attempt to smooth the relationship. It was at least the second time SpaceX had been warned that some of the actions of its security personnel were “inappropriate” after the county advised it in April of similar violations.
But while SpaceX said the district attorney's office appears to have been fed misinformation that led to "certain misunderstandings regarding certain facts," it committed in a June 17 response letter to cooperating with the office and being "a responsible and compliant corporate citizen."
“While SpaceX has a legal obligation to protect the sensitive and regulated nature of its technology, SpaceX respects the right of the public to use public roads and has trained its security personnel on the importance of not obstructing the road outside of permissible county closures,” wrote Shyamal Patel, SpaceX’s senior director for Starship operations.
In the letter, Patel stressed that the company is required under federal regulations to protect its sensitive technology from unlicensed individuals and that the company must take critical security measures to prevent trespassers from entering SpaceX property and from taking unauthorized photographs of sensitive equipment and operations.
But he also conceded that the security guard who interacted with the district attorney’s staff had only recently been hired and “did not fully understand the important distinction between providing security and access to the public roads as compared to private roads.”
“To be clear, SpaceX does not instruct its security personnel to prohibit the public from accessing public roads unless the road is closed by the county or for other permissible reasons,” Patel wrote to Saenz.
He also stated that SpaceX employees do not carry firearms, a contention disputed by the district attorney, and that all of the company’s uniformed officers have the required state certification, with the exception of three employees whose certifications are pending.
Neither SpaceX nor a spokesperson from the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office responded to a request for comment Friday.
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