An environmental group sued the Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday over a planned transfer of wildlife preserve lands in southern Texas with the rocket company SpaceX.
The Center for Biological Diversity led other environmental and tribal groups in the federal lawsuit, which accuses the FWS of violating federal law and giving up lands for protected animals and plants to benefit Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX and former Trump administration official who led the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency staffing cuts last year.
“Our protected public lands are being gifted for the benefit of the world’s richest man, who could trash them while playing with his exploding rockets,” Laiken Jordahl, national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement.
A FWS spokesperson declined to comment on pending legislation, citing the agency’s policies. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
